Not Your Casual News Week 13: In Senegal, the winners of the elections are democracy and hope
Also, a new scandal for the Hungarian government, more inhumane measures against women in Afghanistan and a water crisis in a city of 21 million
The recent elections in Senegal are a breath of fresh air, establishing the country as a democratic powerhouse in a West African region plagued by coups. Bassirou Diomaye Faye is not only Senegal’s youngest president, he is also the embodiment of hope. This is at least what we understood after the presidential elections on 24 March 2024.
Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who was standing for the PASTEF party in place of Ousmane Sonko, won the first round with 54% of the vote — Amadou Ba, the candidate of Macky Sall’s ruling party, came second with 36%.
“No one could have predicted what happened. This situation is the first time in Senegal that an opposition candidate rises to power with 50 and something percent [of votes], no contestations, no appeal. It’s an exceptional situation,” Senegalese citizen Mayébé Mbaye told Africanews.
This victory has a special taste. It feels like a relief. “I feel free. We are finally free. Senegal is free,” Elhadji Thiam, 27, confided to the Guardian. The road to the presidential palace was full of pitfalls, between political shenanigans, prison and death.
A coup in Senegal was at the heart of the discussions when Macky Sall abruptly postponed elections in February with just weeks to go, sparking massive protests that left three people dead. The move was later blocked by the country's constitutional court.
Seynabou Diop, whose son was killed during the protests, declared to Africanews: “I hope that this new administration clears things up for us, so that our hearts are relieved.”
“Money can not replace a life, but I hope that the person responsible for my son’s death is identified and judged.”
Both Faye and Sonko were released from prison ahead of the election after outgoing President Macky Sall declared a political amnesty to ease the social climate.
Their arrests had previously sparked widespread protests and raised questions about Sall's possible bid for a third term, despite a term limit of two.
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The rise of Faye, the former tax inspector turned president, can be attributed to the dissatisfaction of young people in Senegal with the direction of the country, a sentiment echoed across Africa.
Unemployment remains stubbornly high, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has contributed to rising food and energy costs. Nearly a third of Senegal's youth are unemployed, according to the independent research organisation Afrobarometer.
“I am aware that the results of the elections express a profound desire for systemic change,” Bassirou Diomaye Faye said. “Through my election, the Senegalese people have committed to building a sovereign, just and prosperous Senegal in a progressing Africa.”
Bassirou Diomaye Faye rose to prominence when Ousmane Sonko, the ‘architect’ of PASTEF, also a former tax inspector who had previously run in the 2019 elections and finished third, chose him as his replacement after being disqualified due to a previous conviction. “I chose him by objective reflection and strategic choice. He’s my little brother,” the PASTEF leader said at the time.
Last year, Faye was jailed on defamation charges, while Sonko faced several charges, including an ongoing legal matter stemming from an allegation of rape in 2021.
Despite being acquitted of rape, Sonko was found guilty of corrupting young people and sentenced to two years in prison last year. Sonko's supporters have said his legal troubles are part of a government effort to prevent him from running.
Faye, like his newly appointed prime minister Sonko, has pledged to uphold greater transparency and sovereignty for Senegal. They are of left-wing populism and pan-Africanism convictions, and pledged to abandon the franc CFA, a currency heritated from French colonianism.
Faye, like his newly appointed prime minister Sonko, has promised greater transparency and sovereignty for Senegal. They are pan-Africanists and politically left-wing populists. One of their key promises is to abandon the CFA franc, a currency inherited from French colonialism still in used across Africa.
In his inaugural speech as Prime Minister, Sonko expressed his commitment to facilitating change:
“We’ll give it everything we’ve got. We will spare no effort to achieve what we have promised the Senegalese: a break with the past, progress and definitive change in the country.”
So here we are. After years of struggle, Macky Sall is out, and a duo of fresh politicians have arrived — with a lot of promises, and a lot of hope for young Senegalese.
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What Else Happened?
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Thousands of Hungarians have joined rallies in Budapest demanding justice and investigations after former senior official Péter Magyar released an audio recording implicating Hungarian government officials in corruption. Magyar, a former member of Fidesz (Viktor Orbán’s party, the current prime minister), claims the recording shows officials persuading prosecutors to tamper with evidence in a major corruption case. Peter Magyar broke with Fidesz in February 2024 after the president pardoned a man imprisoned for covering up child sex abuse by the director of a state-run orphanage. He wants to create his own party, presenting himself as an alternative to the current opposition. Orbán and Fidesz have dominated Hungarian elections since 2010, reshaping electoral rules, the judiciary and the media while marginalising political opponents.
The Taliban are taking their interpretation of Islamic Sharia law a step further by announcing the public stoning of women. “You say it’s a violation of women’s rights when we stone them to death, but we will soon implement the punishment for adultery,” Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada declared in an audio message broadcast on Afghan state television on Saturday night. “We will flog women in public. We will stone them to death in public,” the Taliban’s supreme leader continued in his message. With the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, women in Afghanistan have lost all their rights, including limited access to education, employment and public spaces.
The New Zealand government said on 26th March that it had raised concerns with China about a cyber attack on its parliament in 2021, discovered by local intelligence services. The disclosure of unauthorised cyber-espionage access to New Zealand’s parliamentary institutions coincides with similar allegations by Britain and the US of a widespread Chinese cyber-espionage campaign. “Foreign interference of this nature is unacceptable, and we have urged China to refrain from such activity in future,” New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement. New Zealand’s spy agency found that Chinese state-sponsored actors known as Advanced Persistent Threat 40 (APT 40) were responsible for the 2021 hack on MPs, and claim that they are linked to China’s Ministry of State Security. In a statement, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy rejected New Zealand’s “groundless and irresponsible accusations.”
Chinese contractors have halted work on two Pakistani dams after a suicide bomber killed five Chinese engineers and a Pakistani driver. The decision affects around 1,250 Chinese nationals working on the projects. Pakistan’s defence minister, Khawaja Asif, has blamed in a tweet “Afghanistan’s lack of progress in combating terrorism within its border”, which he says is the source of recent attacks in Pakistan. China, Pakistan’s main ally, has invested heavily in Pakistan’s infrastructure projects under the Belt and Road Initiative. The attack could affect the safety of Chinese nationals and the future of these projects.
Climate News
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Mexico City has begun rationing water due to shortages in several neighbourhoods as it faces a worsening drought. Mexico City’s central valley could face a “day zero” scenario by June, when there won’t be enough water to supply the city even during the typical rainy season. The water supply systems for the Mexico City metropolitan area and several other Mexican cities are at historic lows due to drought and El Niño effects — approximately 75% of the country has experienced drought-like conditions in recent years. Mexico City, home to 21 million people, relies on reservoirs and aquifers that are at risk of being overused. Experts recommend mitigation strategies such as using wastewater treatment for crops and factories, maintaining and reforesting the Cutzamala system, and installing rainwater collection systems in homes.
Save Carbon County, an environmental group, has sued Stronghold Digital Mining Inc in Pennsylvania state court, alleging that the company’s bitcoin mine is contaminating nearby communities with harmful chemicals. The lawsuit also names Pennsylvania as a defendant and seeks damages and an order to stop the pollution. The group accuses Stronghold of creating a public nuisance and violating the state’s environmental protection obligations. Stronghold, however, claims that its operations clean up coal waste and reclaim land. The process of mining cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin uses a lot of electricity to run and cool the data centres that perform complex mathematical calculations to validate and secure the digital money.
Image of the Week
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A red wave took Türkiye by surprise on Sunday. Local elections were held in the country’s 81 provinces on 31 March 2024 and, as the map shows, the big winners are the reds, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) — Türkiye’s main opposition.
The party's candidates in Turkey's largest city, Istanbul, and the capital, Ankara, were re-elected with 51% and 60% of the vote respectively. The CHP also added to its success a number of major cities that have traditionally been governed by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s party, the AK Party.
The vote was a barometer of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s popularity. It turned out to be a major blow.
Thank you for reading! All the best for your ongoing week,
Simon