Few political turnarounds can match the last month in Senegal.
Just over two weeks ago, Bassirou Diomaye Faye was a little-known opposition leader languishing in jail, detained without trial on charges including inciting insurrection, who had never held elected office.
One week ago, he defeated the governing party’s candidate, Amadou Ba, in the country’s presidential election, winning 54% in the first round.
On Tuesday, the 44-year-old is set to be sworn in as the fifth president of Senegal and become Africa’s youngest elected head of state.
In a region where a large majority of the population are under 30, his victory offers hope to those young people frustrated by a lack of economic opportunities, with old elites seemingly clinging to power.
Mr Faye’s spectacular rise is a powerful reminder that elections still represent the best way to remove a failing government for many citizens in Africa.
Not only has his win removed an unpopular government from office, it has strengthened the country’s democratic institutions and reinvigorated popular confidence in democracy at a time when coups in other West African states have done the opposite.
The story of Mr Faye’s victory will also inspire other leaders across the continent, who have experienced years of rising repression, intimidation and censorship.
According to long-time Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye, who has recently worked with his younger counterpart Bobi Wine to campaign for democracy in his country, “Senegal’s extraordinary electoral process has demonstrated, again, that with a well-mobilised, resilient and well-led population, it’s possible to non-violently achieve the desired democratic transition in Africa”.
The inspirational impact of Mr Faye’s success will be magnified by the fact that it did not come easily.
Ahead of the election the government of President Macky Sall took a number of undemocratic steps in what was seen as an attempt to try and hold on to power against a backdrop of growing popular discontent.
This included the sustained persecution of opposition leaders and critical voices and a last-ditch attempt to delay the elections in a desperate bid to avoid defeat, which led some commentators to ask whether we were seeing the death of Senegalese democracy.
Many of these measures were aimed at undermining the momentum behind the popular opposition party, the African Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics and Fraternity (Pastef).