Idrissa Seck, a veteran Senegalese politician, perseveres and shows up once more. The seasoned contender feels that now is the right moment to run for the presidency after heading administrations and political parties.
The presidential contender and coalition leader (Idy 2024), is an economist by training, expecting that this time will be different than the previous three tries in 2007, 2012, and 2019. This would be the pinnacle of achievement for someone who has always expressed a desire to be president.
His education began at Randoulène Sud 2 elementary school in Thiès, where he learned the Quran from his namesake, Idrissa Gaye. He pursued his education at Saint-Gabriel College in the rail city and later at Van Vollenhoven High School (now Lamine Guèye) in Dakar.
He received his baccalaureate degree in 1981 and was a general competition laureate.
This permitted him to enroll in a preparatory class at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) in Paris, France. Idrissa Seck began studying political science in 1983, with a focus on economics and finance.
At the age of 14, he developed an interest in politics. He met his historical opponent through his cousin Alioune Badara Niang, a friend of Abdoulaye Wade, the Senegalese Democratic Party’s (PDS) Secretary General and founding member.
He rose fast through the ranks of this liberal political party due to his exceptional oratory skills. In 1985, he joined the PDS political bureau and rose to the position of deputy secretary general, becoming former President Abdoulaye Wade’s closest colleague and campaign director for the 1988 presidential race.
Following his candidate’s defeat in the presidential election, he met with US Secretary of State James Baker (1989–1992) in the US Embassy in Senegal. The American statesman advised him to enroll at his university in order to successfully elect his candidate. He enrolled in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs as a result of Princeton University’s Parvin Fellowship scholarship program.
Within the PDS, he served as president of the strategies commission, national secretary in charge of economic and financial matters, and cadre training before becoming party leader in Thiès in 1996, following Boubacar Sall’s death the year before.
He served as Minister of Trade, Handicrafts, and Industrialization from March 15, 1995, to March 20, 1998, after his party joined President Abdou Diouf’s extended presidential majority cabinet. Other PDS members, notably Wade, were involved in this companionship with Diouf, which ended on the eve of the May 1998 legislative elections.
He was Wade’s campaign director for the 2000 presidential election.
When Abdoulaye Wade was elected on March 19, 2000, he was named Director of Cabinet and Minister of State.
Prime Minister Idrissa Seck held office from November 4, 2002, until April 21, 2004. President Wade questioned his handling of the renowned “Thiès projects” in July of the subsequent year. As mayor of the rail city, he had arranged for the city to benefit from a unique program that allowed it to host the celebrations for Senegal’s 44th anniversary of gaining international sovereignty on April 4, 2004. They were called off.
Held without providing specifics about the crimes allegedly compromising state security, he was detained at Reubeuss, Dakar’s primary prison, from July 23, 2005, until early 2006.
He was freed on February 7 of that year after obtaining a case dismissal from both the Tprojectjects case and the allegation of damaging state security.
After that, he broke away from the PDS to found the “Rewmi” party alongside his allies. He made three presidential runs, coming in second in the later two years (2007, 2012, and 2019).
Idrissa Seck approached Macky Sall in 2020, and the latter named him head of the consultative Economic, Social, and Environmental Council (CESE).
He left this role on April 24, 2023, in order to get ready to run for president in 2024.
