Senegal Candidates Set Out Pledges For Presidency

Senegal's main presidential candidates were quick to set out their plans for the country's highest office after the delayed election date was set for March 24 following weeks of crisis

Dakar, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Mar, 2024) Senegal's main presidential candidates were quick to set out their plans for the country's highest office after the delayed election date was set for March 24 following weeks of crisis.

Their proposals focused on expected revenues from oil and gas production, due to begin off the coast this year, and the renegotiation of contracts signed with foreign partners.

Whether breaking with the past or ensuring its continuity, the candidates pledged to tackle old and new challenges facing the developing country, where more than half the population is under 20.

These range from food sovereignty, unemployment, emigration, and the fishing industry crisis, to education, digital technology and fundamental freedoms.

Here is what four of the 19 candidates laid out:

Chosen to represent the camp of outgoing President Macky Sall, the former prime minister presents himself as the candidate of peace and "shared prosperity" after three years of turmoil.

Ba says he will create more than a million jobs in five years through public and private investment in agriculture, industry, infrastructure and renewable energy.

He references 22 "flagship projects" for which he says the financing has been "secured or can be mobilised".

These include the creation of agricultural hubs and the development of processing areas for oil and mineral products.

Ba also says he intends to "update" the natural resource contracts signed by the Senegalese state.

He pledges to establish a minimum allowance for the elderly population and speed up the construction of a national school for arts and culture.

- Bassirou Diomaye Faye -

Pitching himself as the candidate for "system change" and "left-wing pan-Africanism", the opposition figure promises to reclaim Senegal's sovereignty -- a word deployed 18 times in his manifesto.

Faye says he will renegotiate mining and hydrocarbon contracts, and re-evaluate fishing and defence agreements.

The imprisoned candidate says he will reform institutions by limiting the powers of the president, creating a vice-presidency, and reforming the penal code to bring it in line with "current values and needs".

He intends to introduce a national Currency to replace the CFA franc, inherited from French colonial rule, and to implement English teaching in schools -- where French is currently the official language.

- Khalifa Sall -

Barred from running in 2019 over a financial crimes conviction he disputes, the opposition candidate pledges to reform a "damaged" Senegal.

Sall's "project for society" focuses on traditional family values, institutional reform, justice, freedoms and human rights.

He says he will dedicate at least 1,000 billion CFA francs ($1.66 billion) of the annual budget to agriculture, and renegotiate fishing agreements.

He pledges to carry out a review of all mining, oil and gas contracts, and gradually increase the state's stake in operating companies.

Sall says he wants to "diversify and rebalance" Senegal's diplomatic and economic partnerships by "strengthening South-South cooperation and cooperation with emerging countries".

The former prime minister and twice presidential runner-up says he follows in the footsteps of successful leaders, but that "much remains to be done".

Seck says he will not carry out a unilateral withdrawal from the CFA franc, but instead speed up the process of creating a common West African currency.

He also pledges to dedicate at least 60 percent of public investment to areas outside the capital Dakar.

Seck says he will renegotiate fishing agreements with Mauritania, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone, while creating a fund financed by oil and gas companies to compensate for damages to the fishing industry.