Just hours after taking the oath of office, Senegal’s newly elected president named Sonko as the new head of government. The 49-year-old was convicted of allegations of abuse.
Senegal’s newly elected President Bassirou Diomaye Faye has appointed controversial opposition leader Ousmane Sonko as prime minister. Faye announced the appointment of his close confidant, who is particularly popular with the young population, that night. Just hours earlier, Faye had taken his oath of office.
Sonko is considered an anti-corruption, elite critic and Pan-Africanist as well as a conservative Muslim. The 49-year-old was excluded from the presidential election at the end of March because he was given a six-month suspended prison sentence about a year ago for defaming a minister he had accused of corruption. In June he was also sentenced to two years in prison in connection with allegations of abuse by a 20-year-old.
Sonko and Faye released from custody
Faye himself was in custody for eleven months because of a Facebook post in which he criticized the judiciary. The verdicts, like Sonko’s arrest in 2021, led to demonstrations and serious riots in the country, which is actually considered one of the most stable democracies in Africa. Sonko and Faye were both released from prison just ten days before the presidential election.
Faye, at 44 years old one of Africa’s youngest presidents, was elected head of state of the West African coastal state with around 18 million inhabitants a week and a half ago with 54.28 percent of the vote. He replaced President Macky Sall, who had been in office since 2012. The government candidate Amadou Ba only achieved 35.79 percent.
Source: Stern
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