The new Senegalese president, 44 years old, comes from the city of Ambour, located in the west of the country.

He was the youngest of the 19 candidates in age.

Psero Fay is the first Senegalese president to enter the palace with two wives, despite the widespread phenomenon of polygamy in Senegal to the extent that it gives men social prestige in the traditions of the African country.

Which one will hold the title?

Posts on social media platforms were filled with questions, some of which contained a kind of sarcasm, while others saw it as a second success in addition to Psero Faye’s success in the elections. 

Cindy Crane asked on her Masna X account: “The record of the elected president of Senegal having two wives has been broken. The question is, who will be the first lady?”

 Dr. Pinking commented: "Double success. The elected president of Senegal with his two beautiful wives. Guys, polygamy is the key. Behind every successful man, there is a woman. Now imagine two wives." 

The results showed that Psru Fay won more than fifty percent of the votes, and his main competitor admitted defeat. 

African tradition

Senegalese social activist Nathalie Yamp says that the position of first lady does not exist in the constitution or in any other Senegalese text. There is no first lady, second lady, etc. Under the law, they are ordinary citizens, so the term “first lady” is a very common misnomer. Not only in Africa, but almost everywhere in the world.

Yamp adds to Sky News Arabia, “As far as I know, only the United States and the monarchies have introduced the status of First Lady/First Gentleman (as well as Queen/King Consort, etc.) in their texts. Moreover, it will not “Bassero is neither the first nor the last head of state to have two or more official wives. Barrow, Zuma, and Oligwe Nguema are all committed to polygamy, and Mobutu’s father and Edris Déby were also polygamous.”

She points out that “he did not pose any problem at the level of protocol, and the wife accompanying him will be described as the ‘first lady’, and if he is accompanied by both of them, she will be the ‘first ladies’.

Political science researcher Idris Ayat agrees with her, saying, “There are no special tasks assigned to the president’s wife, and no salary allocated to her based on this role. If she takes over the management of a charity or institution, she is given a salary like any other employee who serves the country. However, in the traditions of empires.” The African woman gave special consideration to the first wife, treating her as the mother of the flock, her children, and the children of the entire nation, considering all the women of the empire as equal ladies.”

He added, "The president's two wives are citizens like all other women. They help their husband bear the burden of responsibility, just as any wife in the country helps her husband bear the responsibility/responsibilities of the family," noting that "the culture of polygamy in Africa is a well-established culture, independent of religions, dating back for ages." It is very old, and the new Senegalese president, Diomay Faye, is not a novelty in this context.

He was preceded by presidents such as Mahamadou Issoufou from Niger, Idriss Deby from Chad, as well as Gambian President Barrow, South Africa’s Jacob Zuma, Congo’s Mobutu and others, who officially took more than one wife, and this culture never raised protocol problems.”

Ayat believes that regarding the need to designate the “First Lady” in order to facilitate international protocol in the event of travel, the title can be applied to the wife who accompanies the president on official occasions, or both of them may be known as “First Ladies” if they accompany him together.”

Community tasks

In turn, the Senegalese researcher, Abdel-Ahad Abdel-Rashid, says, “This situation is new for Senegal, which has never had a president who practiced polygamy, but I do not think it will pose a problem, as each of them will be considered the first lady of the country. Her role in the country is usually to help the president.” The Republic in social affairs, and carrying out charitable work to help the poor and needy.

Abdul Rashid added to Sky News Arabia that the role of the First Lady is limited to social affairs and maintaining national cohesion, by establishing charitable institutions to provide aid to the poor and needy, in addition to improving relations between officials in the country, especially between the government and social and religious figures. He

also believes, The presence of two first ladies in the country will not pose any problem, instead each of them will have an important role in achieving social stability and improving the fragile living conditions of vulnerable groups.”