44-Year-Old Opposition Candidate Wins Senegal’s Presidential Election

 

Senegalese opposition candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye has won the presidential election.

 

The win has seen his main opponent and former Prime Minister of the ruling coalition candidate Amadou Ba concede defeat.

 

Provisional results yesterday showed Faye, with about 53.7% and Ba with 36.2% based on tallies from 90% of polling stations in the first-round vote, the electoral commission said.

 

On Monday, ruling coalition candidate Ba, called Faye to offer his congratulations, a government spokesman told journalists.

“In light of presidential election result trends and while we await the official proclamation, I congratulate …Faye for his victory in the first round,” Ba said in a statement.

 

Senegal’s outgoing President Macky Sall also congratulated opposition candidate Faye as his successor on Monday, hailing “a victory for Senegalese democracy.”

 

Sall, who did not stand after wins in 2012 and 2019, said he “salutes the smooth running of the election” and “congratulates the winner, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who the poll trends show as winning.”

 

Several opposition contenders had also conceded defeat to Faye during the night, including Anta Babacar Ngom, the only woman running.