Vote counting is under way in Senegal after a delayed presidential
election that many hope will bring change after a turbulent political
period that has triggered violent anti-government protests and boosted support
for the opposition.
More than seven million of the country’s over 17 million
people were registered to vote in Sunday’s election.
Nineteen contenders are vying to replace President Macky
Sall, stepping
down after a second term marred by unrest over the prosecution of
opposition leader Ousmane
Sonko and concerns that Sall wanted to extend his mandate past the
constitutional limit.
The incumbent was not on the ballot for the first time in
Senegal’s history. His ruling coalition has picked former prime minister Amadou
Ba, 62, as its candidate.
Sonko, in jail until recently, was disqualified from the
race because of a defamation conviction. He is backing the co-creator of his
now-dissolved PASTEF party, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who was also detained almost
a year ago on charges including defamation and contempt of court.
An amnesty law passed this month allowed their release days
before the vote.
He and his colleague Diomaye have campaigned together under
the banner “Diomaye is Sonko”.
Besides Ba and Faye, Dakar’s former Mayor Khalifa Sall,
veteran politician Idrissa Seck, former Prime Minister Mahammed Boun Abdallah
Dionne, a close ally of President Sall Aly Ngouille Ndiaye and entrepreneur and
political newcomer Anta Babacar Ngom — the sole woman among the candidates —
are all a part of the presidential race.
To avoid a run-off election, one candidate must secure more
than 50 percent of the vote. While official results are expected next week, in
previous elections candidates have announced their predictions on the same
evening as the vote.
After casting his vote, Ba called for peace and said he
wished for the Senegalese people to find out who their next president is soon
and to calmly resume their daily lives. He said he was “very, very, very
confident” of his chances of winning.
Most of Sonko’s supporters are expected to vote for Faye,
analysts say.
“The population is choosing between continuation and
rupture,” Faye said after voting, urging contenders to accept the result.
While the elections come amid frustrations over a fragile
economy, according to election observers, the voting process has been
relatively peaceful.
Hundreds of election observers from civil society, the
African Union, the regional group the Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS) and the European Union were on the ground monitoring the fairness of
the vote.
“From the opening this morning, our observers – and it’s a
partial piece of the picture – we have seen that there are quite some queues in
front of the offices, which shows that people are mobilised to go and use their
right to vote and express their views for the future of Senegal,” Malin Bjork,
from the EU election observer mission to Senegal, told Al Jazeera.
“Election offices are functioning well. It’s calm; there is
serenity in the process, according to our observations,” she added.
Source: Al Jazeera
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