Politics

Senegal opposition claims election win despite lack of official results

Dakar, Mar 25 (EFE).- The campaign of Senegal’s main opposition candidate, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, on Monday was claiming victory in the first round of the presidential elections held a day earlier, although electoral officials have yet to publish final results.

Opposition deputy and member of Faye’s campaign, Guy Marius Sagna, said in a statement distributed on social media that Faye was leading with 57.84% of the votes after nearly 72% of the ballots had been counted.

Sagna also claimed the ruling party’s Amadou Ba had won 31.88% of the votes.

However, the National Autonomous Electoral Commission (CENA) pointed out in a statement that “the proclamation of results is the exclusive responsibility of the authorized bodies”.

Faye’s supporters were seen celebrating on Sunday night and on Monday morning in Senegal’s main cities, in particular Dakar and Ziguinchor, both opposition strongholds.

Five candidates – Déthié Fall, Papa Djibril Fall, Mamadou Lamine Diallo, Anta Babacar Ngom and Khalifa Sall – publicly congratulated Faye on Sunday, after the first vote projections.

Faye’s campaign sources highlighted to EFE on Monday that up to “13 candidates” have congratulated the opposition leader for his victory in the presidential elections.

Meanwhile, Ba, 62, who represents the ruling coalition of Benno Bokk Yaakaar (“United for Hope”, in Wolof language), and the Alliance for the Republic (APR), appealed to wait and wait for the final results to be published.

In the early hours of the morning, Ba thanked supporters who had gathered at his party’s headquarters, adding that he would return Monday “to give them a final assessment”.

“Let’s respect the laws of the Republic, let’s respect the democratic game, let’s respect the verdict of the ballot boxes”, the ruling party candidate added.

Unknown by the general public until a few months ago, Faye’s political career has always followed Ousmane Sonko, the country’s main opposition leader.

They laid the foundations in 2014 of the party Patriots of Senegal for Labor, Ethics and Fraternity (Pastef), a party that was outlawed in July.

In little more than a decade, this opposition amalgam has become the second largest political force in Senegal, especially because of Sonko’s public charisma, his “anti-system” rhetoric and denunciation of French neo-colonialism.

Sonko had been lined up to represent the interests of the former Pastef for these presidential elections, with Faye taking a step back.

However, after the Constitutional Council rejected Sonko’s candidacy in view of his judicial conviction (Faye could participate in the elections as he had never been tried or convicted) the opposition leader was forced to hand over power. EFE

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