(17 Nov 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dakar, Senegal – 17 November 2024
1. Voter and student Aita Pene walking into Ouakam Camp School
2. Aita Pene casting her vote
3. SOUNDBITE (Wolof) Aita Pene, 26, student:
“These elections could change a lot for me, like all other young people. We all need work. We need to be able to do something for ourselves. We need to be able to live a good life in Senegal so we don’t have to go outside to find it.”
4. Various of polling station at school
5. SOUNDBITE (French) Assmalick Ndoye, 37, building technician:
“For example, the amnesty (law). A lot of citizens want this to be repealed. Get rid of the amnesty (law) so that justice can be done for the victims.”
6. Various of election officials opening ballot box and counting votes
7. SOUNDBITE (Wolof) Ndeye Dior Gaye. 38, hairdresser:
“Dakar, and Senegal, we can’t build them up by talking. It’s work that counts. These people who think they’re big guys since they’ve been in power, everyone understands what’s happening. If you’ve been here for seven months and you’ve done nothing, you won’t be able to do something if you stay in power for seven years.”
8. Various of election officials counting votes
9. Police closing gate to Ouakam Camp School polling station
STORYLINE:
Polls have closed and counting has begun in Senegal’s legislative elections, called in September after President Bassirou Diomaye Faye dissolved the opposition-led parliament to call a snap legislative election.
Without a majority in parliament, Faye had been unable to push through promised reforms.
His presidential campaign hinged on these proposed reforms, which included fighting corruption, reviewing fishing permits for foreign companies and securing a bigger share from the country’s natural resources for the population.
Young people in Senegal in particular have been affected by unemployment and inflation, and have much to gain if the country’s fishing or oil and gas sectors are reformed.
Aita Pene, a 26-year-old student who voted as polls were closing, said she thinks the legislative elections could help people like her.
“These elections could change a lot for me, like all other young people. We all need work,” she said. “We need to be able to live a good life in Senegal so we don’t have to go outside to find it.”
Over 60% of Senegalese are under 25 and 90% work in informal jobs.
Those employed as artisanal fishermen say that foreign trawlers have left them with little fish to catch, and Senegal’s oil and gas industries are dominated by foreign companies.
Faye promised to renegotiate these contracts and give more of the wealth to the Senegalese people.
At the time of the presidential election, many Senegalese people were fed up with years of rule by Macky Sall, considered an ally of France who was out of touch with the country’s youth.
Faye campaigned on an anti-establishment platform and won the presidential election with 54% of votes in the first round.
The March presidential election followed months of violent crackdowns on protesters, which rights groups said killed dozens and left 1,000 in jail.
Assmalick Ndoye, a supporter of PASTEF, Faye and Sonko’s party, said the party needs a majority in parliament in order to carry out their agenda.
“For example, the amnesty (law). A lot of citizens want this to be repealed. Get rid of the amnesty (law) so that justice can be done for the victims,” he said, referencing the law that pardoned those who perpetrated violence against protesters.
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