Photos: Senegal’s youngest president, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, sworn in
Al Jazeera
Commonly known as Diomaye, or ‘the honourable one’ in the local Serer language, Faye won election with 54% of the vote.
Senegal has inaugurated Bassirou Diomaye Faye as its president, completing the previously little-known opposition figure’s dramatic ascent from prison to the palace in just weeks.
The left-wing pan-Africanist was sworn in on Tuesday after sweeping to a first-round victory in the March 24 elections on a pledge of reform. At age 44, he is Senegal’s youngest president.
“Before God and the Senegalese nation, I swear to faithfully fulfil the office of president of the Republic of Senegal,” Faye said in Diamniadio, near the capital, Dakar.
He also promised to “scrupulously observe the provisions of the constitution and the laws” and defend “the integrity of the territory and national independence and to spare no effort to achieve African unity”.
The formal handover of power with outgoing President Macky Sall will take place at the presidential palace in Dakar.
