Senegalese presidential candidates are making their final campaign trips before the scheduled election on Sunday March 24. Franceinfo slipped into the crowd who came to support the candidate Amadou Ba, foal of the outgoing president.
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After a month of delay and numerous twists and turns, the Senegalese will be able to elect, on Sunday March 24, their fifth president in the country’s history. The 17 candidates in the running are making their final trips across the country in this campaign which is supposed to end on Friday March 22 at midnight. In the suburbs of Dakar, Thursday March 21, there is a rally for Amadou Ba, the former Prime Minister designated majority candidate by outgoing President Macky Sall.
A jubilant crowd cheers the candidate of the ruling coalition. His supporters had to wait until midnight before seeing him take the stage. “I am here to welcome our candidate Amadou Ba, the best candidate. He has everything, we want him”proclaims Aminata, brought here by bus, like the majority of activists, whose enthusiasm is somewhat unnatural.
Some claim to have been paid
In the crowd, Awa, a mother, does not even know the name of the man she has come to support. If she denies having been paid to give a standing ovation to the candidate of power, others, however, assure her. “We are just here for money, but we are not going to vote for Amadou and Macky Sall, no no”she says, t-shirt with the image of Amadou Ba on her back. “They are corrupt”she says, assuring that she received 5,000 CFA francs to be present.
“We are not with Amadou Ba, we are with Ousmane Sonko until death.”
Fatou, a mother who came to cheer Amadou Baat franceinfo
The one who won Fatou’s heart was Ousmane Sonko, the anti-system opponent excluded from the presidential race before giving way to his right-hand man, Bassirou Diomaye Faye. The latter, it is this candidate supported by a large part of the youth, who represents the greatest threat to Amadou Ba’s project.