There is still no result in the presidential election in Senegal – but supporters of the opposition candidate Faye are already celebrating his victory after the first counts. Government candidate Ba continues to hope for a runoff election.
After the presidential election in Senegal, opposition representative Bassirou Diomaye Faye appears to have a clear lead. According to the partial results from the individual polling stations, which were gradually distributed in the media and online networks on Monday night, Faye received significantly more votes than the government candidate Amadou Ba. For their part, Bas’s supporters said they were “sure” that there would be at least a runoff election.
To win the presidential election in the first round, one of the candidates would have to receive an absolute majority of votes. No date has yet been set for a possible runoff election.
Other candidates are already congratulating Faye
Five of the 15 candidates who fell behind Faye and Ba have already congratulated Faye on her victory. Anta Babacar Ngom, who was the only woman to run, wrote on the online network X of Faye’s “undeniable victory”. Hundreds of Faye’s supporters celebrated in front of Faye’s campaign headquarters in the Senegalese capital Dakar. Young people on motorcycles drove through the streets of the capital, honking their horns.
Ba’s team speaks of “manipulation”
The campaign management of government candidate Ba, however, said that, given the partial results evaluated by their teams of experts, they were “sure that in the worst case scenario there would be a runoff election.” She accused Faye’s camp of “manipulation.” Official results are not expected until later this week.
In the election, 7.3 million people were called upon to cast their votes. Long queues had already formed in front of the polling stations on Sunday morning. No major incidents were reported on election day. Information on voter turnout was not initially published; in the previous presidential election in 2019 it was 66 percent.
Faye’s victory would be a massive political turning point
If 43-year-old Faye actually moves into the presidential palace, it would be a massive political turning point for Senegal. During the election campaign, Faye described herself as a “candidate for system change” and as a representative of “left-wing pan-Africanism”. He promised, among other things, the restoration of national “sovereignty” in Senegal, a determined fight against corruption and a fairer distribution of wealth in the country – as well as the renegotiation of contracts for mining and the use of recently discovered oil and gas reserves.
Faye replaced the charismatic opposition leader Ousmane Sonko. Sonko, who is particularly popular with young Senegalese, is the founder and chairman of the Pastef party and has been in a power struggle with outgoing President Macky Sall since 2021. Last June, the 49-year-old was sentenced to two years in prison for allegedly “seducing young people” and was excluded from the election in January.
The election took place a month later
The presidential elections in Senegal, which had long been seen as a model for democracy and stability in West Africa, were originally scheduled to take place on February 25th. But then President Sall announced that he would postpone the vote until the end of the year. This announcement led to massive protests in which four people were killed. The opposition spoke of an “institutional coup.” The Senegalese Constitutional Council eventually declared the postponement invalid and March 24th was set as the new date.
To appease the demonstrators, President Sall issued an amnesty. Opposition leader Sonko and his deputy Faye also benefited from this. The unrest in the weeks leading up to the election was the latest chapter in a series of outbreaks of violence since 2021, sparked in part by the standoff between Sonko and the state. Economic and social tensions and fears that Sall could run for a third term also fueled the riots, in which scores of people were killed and hundreds arrested.