Senegal’s President, Bassirou Diomaye Faye dissolved the opposition-led parliament on Thursday, paving the way for a snap legislative election six months after he was voted in on an anti-establishment platform.
The new election will take place Nov. 17, Faye said in a televised address Thursday evening in which he asked voters to give his party a mandate so that he can carry out the “systemic transformation that I promised.”
Analysts say that Faye’s political party, PASTEF, has a high chance of securing a majority, given his popularity and his margin of victory in the March presidential election.
The Benno Bokk Yaakar opposition platform led by former President Macky Sall condemned the move. They said Faye had convened a legislative session under false pretenses in order to announce the dissolution and accused him of “perjury.”
Faye, 44, won the vote in March to become Africa’s youngest elected leader, less than two weeks after he was released from prison. His rise has reflected widespread frustration among Senegal’s youth with the country’s direction — a common sentiment across Africa, which has the world’s youngest population and a number of leaders accused of clinging to power for decades.
During the presidential campaign, he promised widespread reforms to improve the living standards of ordinary Senegalese, including fighting corruption, reviewing fishing permits for foreign companies, and securing a bigger share from the country’s natural resources for the population. He was elected with 54% of the votes.
But six months later, these pledges have yet to materialize.
Faye and Ousmane Sonko, the country’s prime minister and a popular opposition figure who helped catapult Faye to victory, have blamed the parliament. Their political party, PASTEF, does not hold a majority in the assembly, which Faye says has blocked him from executing the promised reforms.
