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Bassirou Diomaye Faye (center) leaves a polling station

Photo: Jerome Favre / EPA

In Senegal, opposition candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye was elected president with a surprisingly clear majority. Government candidate and former Prime Minister Amadou Ba (62) congratulated Faye on her victory on Monday, even before the official preliminary results of the election were published. Just a few hours after the polls closed, the counting indicated a clear lead for 44-year-old Faye.

"In view of the trend in the results of the presidential election and in anticipation of the official announcement," rival Ba congratulates the opposition candidate Faye on "his victory in the first round," said a statement from Bas. Acting President Macky Sall also congratulated “the winner” Faye.

Official results are not expected until later this week. To win the presidential election in the first round, one of the candidates must receive an absolute majority of votes.

Faye's candidacy was plan B

Faye ran for the camp of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko and his dissolved African Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics and Fraternity (Pastef) party. Sonko is particularly popular among young Senegalese people as an elite critic and anti-corruption fighter. However, he was not allowed to take part because of a conviction in a libel trial.

Faye ran instead. He is considered Faye's close confidant and is the party's ex-general secretary, so he was nominated as Plan B. 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.

In the election, 7.3 million people were called upon to cast their votes. If 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.

Macky Sall has ruled Senegal since 2012. The country with its 18 million inhabitants is one of the most stable democracies in Africa and, unlike other countries in the region, has not experienced any overthrow or military coup since its independence from France in 1960. Sall has been praised for successes in economic development in the country, where oil and gas production is expected to begin this year. Human rights activists, however, criticize the restrictions on political freedoms during his term in office.

There was a week-long political crisis before the election. After protests that resulted in four deaths and a tug of war between the institutions, the election finally took place around a month late. However, according to election observers, the election itself was conducted “quietly, efficiently and orderly.”

lpz/AFP/dpa