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 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.
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