Senegal votes in presidential election after months of uncertainty

By James Tasamba

KIGALI, Rwanda (AA) – Voters in Senegal headed to the polls Sunday to take part in the presidential election after months of uncertainty that plunged the West African country in political chaos.

Some 7.3 million Senegalese are eligible to vote, according to the Autonomous National Electoral Commission (CENA).

Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. local time and will close at 6 p.m.

There were 19 presidential candidates, but two dropped out to back one of the opposition potential frontrunners.

Amadou Ba of the ruling coalition, supported by incumbent President Macky Sall and Bassirou Diomaye Faye, a candidate backed by opposition leader Ousmane Sonko and popular among the youth, are among the leading contenders.

Others include Khalifa Sall, a former government minister and former mayor of Dakar, and Anta Babacar Ngom, the only female presidential candidate.

Abdoulaye Sylla, the head of CENA, has promised a transparent election. “This election will be transparent, as CENA controllers and candidates' representatives will be present at all polling stations,” he said on Saturday.

Sylla urged citizens to “once again show the world your political maturity, go to the polls en masse on Sunday, vote peacefully for the candidate of your choice.”

It is the first time in the history of Senegal that the incumbent is holding an election in which he is not a candidate.

The Dakar region, the economic and political heart of Senegal with over 1.8 million registered voters is one of the areas whose results could shape the final outcome.

Ba, a former prime minister, told reporters at a news conference in the capital on Friday that he expected to be elected.

If no candidate secures more than 50% of votes, a second round of voting will take place in two weeks.

More than 2,000 observers including more than 800 international were accredited for the vote, according to the electoral body.

On Feb. 3, President Sall, who has been in power since 2012, postponed the presidential election originally scheduled on Feb. 25, citing a dispute over the candidate list and alleged corruption of constitutional judges, triggering political chaos in which three people were killed.

The National Assembly then passed a bill postponing the vote until Dec. 15 as security forces stormed the building and removed some opposition lawmakers.

But the Senegalese Constitutional Council declared the law postponing the vote to December “unconstitutional” and annulled the decree to delay the poll.

Sall announced the new poll date after the Constitutional Council ruled that it would be unconstitutional to hold the election after April 2, the date marking the end of the current term of president.