DAKAR, SENGAL — After months of debate and political crisis caused by outgoing president Macky Sall’s decision to delay Senegal elections, the country pulled it off. Elections took place in a calm, credible and transparent setting, a new president was elected and is getting ready to be sworn in. Some say what happened in Senegal may inspire others in sub-Saharan Africa.
The tensions of the last few months in Senegal seem to be fading away - to be replaced by the hope that Senegal’s reputation as a beacon of democracy in the region has been restored.
Barrister Agbor Balla, president of the Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa, told VOA, Senegal’s success may have helped turn the wave of military coups in the region.
“If Macky Sall had stayed longer, it might’ve given rise to a coup d’etat look at the other countries around Senegal in West Africa, we’ve seen how civilian governments have been toppled by the military," said Balla.
A feeling echoed by Ibrahima Diallo, founder of FNDC, National Front for the Defense of Democracy and Human Rights in Guinea, a country that recently experienced a coup. Diallo told VOA the lessons of democracy in Senegal have resonated.
“I think the electoral process in Senegal has given more power and solid arguments to pro-democracy activists in Guinea and the rest of West Africa to say there are no other ways to follow but the democratic way for stability and development of our countries,” he said.