SENEGAL woke today to a new president-elect, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, a former tax inspector and political newcomer who was released from prison just weeks ago and has vowed to fight corruption and reform the economy.

Mr Faye was catapulted into a presidential campaign after popular opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, who was barred from running due to a prior conviction, backed him. 

“I pledge to govern with humility and transparency and to fight corruption at all levels. I pledge to devote myself fully to rebuilding our institutions,” he said in his first speech as president-elect, restating promises made during his campaign.

While official results of Sunday’s vote were not yet available, the other frontrunner, the former prime minister who was backed by incumbent President Macky Sall, conceded defeat. 

President Sall followed with congratulations, also naming Mr Faye as the winner.

The election followed months of unrest ignited by Mr Faye and Mr Sonko’s arrest last year, and concerns that the president would seek a third term despite constitutional term limits. 

Rights groups said that dozens were killed in the protests, while some 1,000 people were jailed.

Mr Faye’s campaign messages of economic reform and anti-corruption resonated with the youth. Almost a third of young people are unemployed with thousands risking their lives on dangerous journeys in search of jobs in the West.

Mr Faye has vowed to improve Senegal’s control over its natural resources to prevent the country from falling into what his campaign called “economic enslavement.”

In a signal that significant domestic and foreign policy are ahead, Mr Faye has promised to renegotiate Senegal’s oil and gas contract, introduce a new currency and reform the troubled Ecowas regional bloc.