Celebrations in Senegal as opposition candidate secures early lead in presidential poll

Many supporters of Bassirou Faye, opposition candidate in Senegal’s presidential election, have gathered at his campaign office in Dakar, the capital city, to celebrate his early lead in the polls.

The celebrations followed congratulatory messages to 44-year-old Faye from at least five of the 17 candidates who contested in the election.

Exit polls indicate that Faye is leading in most of the units, defeating Amadou Ba and Anta Babacarr Ngom at their polling stations.

On Sunday, millions of Senegalese trooped to various polling booths to cast their votes for the next president of the country.

Senegal’s election was initially slated for February 25 before it was postponed by Macky Sall, the outgoing president — a development which led to unrest in the country.

The opposition viewed Sall’s action as an attempt to extend his mandate beyond the constitutional limit, despite his promise not to run for a third term.

The constitutional council later ruled against the delay and March 24 was set as the new election date.

About 7.3 million Senegalese were registered to cast their votes in the election.

Faye and Ousmane Sanko, top opposition leaders, were released from prison after an amnesty law was passed on March 14.

Sanko, who was initially the main opposition candidate, had to pick Faye to replace him in the race after he was detained and barred from running, over allegations of defamation.

RUN-OFF POSSIBILITY?

Ahmadou Ba, former prime minister, who is running for the presidency under the ruling coalition, in a statement by his campaign team, said the celebration by Faye’s supporters was “premature”.

“We will continue to respect the prerogatives of the various institutions responsible for the census and the proclamation of the results. We call on all other candidates to do the same,” the statement reads.

“The camp that is jubilant before knowing the result only demonstrates a desire to manipulate and conquer power through vandalism. No one will be able to replace the will of the people resulting from the effective census of their votes.

“For our part, and in view of the results reported by our expert teams, we are certain of being, in the worst case scenario, in a second round.

“We therefore call on all Senegalese to remain calm, while awaiting the official results which will not be long in coming.”

Over 15,000 polling stations were set up for the polls.

The final provisional results are expected to be announced by Tuesday.

A run-off will only be held if no candidate secures more than 50 percent of the votes required.