Opposition candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye was elected president with a surprisingly clear majority. He replaces Mackie Sall, who has been in power for more than a decade.
Faye ran for the camp of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko and his dissolved African Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics and Fraternity (Pastef) party. The tax officer was released from prison along with Sonko under an amnesty law just ten days before the election. He was imprisoned because he criticized the justice system in Sonko's trial in a Facebook post.