SENEGAL’S FORMER PM AMADOU BA CONGRATULATES FAYE ON WINNING PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Mon 25 March 2024:

Senegal’s ruling coalition candidate Amadou Ba congratulates his rival Bassirou Diomaye Faye on winning the presidential election in the first round, the ruling coalition said Monday.

Results trickling in since polls closed on Sunday evening in the first round of a delayed presidential election suggested Faye, 44, may have clinched an outright majority. The trends announced on local media sparked street celebrations by his supporters in the capital Dakar.

Amadou Ba, former prime minister of outgoing President Macky Sall, thus conceded defeat, as shown by the early trends, which are largely in favor of Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who has taken the lead in the polling stations in the national capital of Dakar and most of the country’s cities.

“In view of the trends in the presidential election results and while awaiting the official proclamation, I congratulate President Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye on his victory in the first round,” Ba said in the 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.

Faye and Sonko, two former tax inspectors, have campaigned together under the slogan “Diomaye is Sonko”, promising to fight corruption and prioritise national economic interests.

Their message is particularly popular among young voters in a country where more than 60 percent of people are under 25 and struggle to find jobs.

The provisional results of the first round of the presidential election will be published by the National Vote Counting Commission no later than Friday, and it will then be up to the Constitutional Council to declare them definitive.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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