Ousmane Sonko used the PASTEF congress at Dakar Arena to mark the end of unruly behaviour and to steer his movement towards a profound reinvention of its militant mindset. The leader of the Patriots firmly banned the culture of invective that had long characterised public discourse. “Mockery, nicknames and insults are no longer to be part of PASTEF,” he declared. Anticipating provocation strategies from opponents, he demanded from his supporters a posture of high responsibility and absolute respect for the nation’s institutions, traditional chiefs and religious authorities.
Ousmane Sonko places this disciplinary overhaul at the heart of a formidable strategy for structuring and electoral conquest. Downplaying the recent departure of a few executives as insignificant, the PASTEF chairman set out ambitious organisational goals to saturate the political landscape: selling one million membership cards and deploying ten thousand grassroots cells. By instructing his followers to “criss-cross the country” and oversee mass voter registration, he is definitively transforming his movement into a party of order and governance, entirely focused on the upcoming electoral deadlines.
