Senegal’s opposition leader Bassirou Diomaye Faye has won the presidential elections in the country, a few days after his release from prison. He was released from prison, one week to the elections.

Faye is now being set to take over from Senegal’s current president Macky Sall, after a hotly contested presidential election.

Diomaye Faye, commonly known as Mr Clean, has the mandate to implement key reforms in the country as he promised the electorate in his campaign manifesto.

The political atmosphere shifted in the country after a firebrand opposition party leader Ousmane Sonko, who was also detained, was charged with insurrection in July 2023 and barred from running in elections. 

The ruling party has already conceded defeat, paving the way for the 44-year-old Faye to take over the leadership of the country after winning a democratic election on Monday March 25, 2024. 

President-elect Faye was a tax inspector before he joined politics and became Sonko’s trusted lieutenant and Pastef’s secretary general.

Sonko’s endorsement of his former deputy in the run-up to Sunday’s delayed election played a key role in influencing the voting pattern in Senegal.

“My choice of Diomaye is not a choice from the heart, but from reason. I chose him because he meets the criteria that I have defined. He is competent and has attended the most prestigious school in Senegal,” Sonko said in a video message.

“No one can say he is not honest. I would even say that he is more honest than me. I entrust the project into his hands,” Sonko said.

Diomaye finished high school studies in 2000, before proceeding to University to study law. He also holds a master’s degree  from Dakar’s Cheikh Anta Diop University.

He was arrested in April 2023, a few months before Sonko was also held, and charged with contempt of court and defaming magistrates.

They both denied charges leveled against them but unlike Sonko, he was cleared by the electoral commission to contest in the presidential elections.

Faye warmed the hearts of voters while still in prison. 

Additionally, a coalition of more than 100 political parties, and some political heavyweights including former prime minister Aminata Toure, supported Faye’s presidential bid under the banner “Doimaye mooy Sonko”, which translates to “Diomaye is Sonko.”