Ruling party concedes, as opposition candidate Bassirou Faye leads in Senegalese presidential polls

The former Prime Minister of Senegal and candidate of the ruling party, Amadou Ba, has accepted defeat in the presidential election held on Sunday, 24 March and has congratulated the main opposition candidate, Bassirou Faye, who is expected to be declared the winner. Although the official collation of results is still ongoing, results so far announced at polling units across the country show Faye, 44, will win the election in the first round. Ba, 62, had initially said celebrations by Faye’s supporters were premature but on Monday, he called and wrote to congratulate him. “In light of presidential election result trends and while we await the official proclamation, I congratulate… Faye for his victory in the first round,” Ba wrote in a statement, according to Al-Jazeera. Ba enjoyed the support of the outgoing president Macky Sall who had initially tried to postpone the election while he held on to power. Weeks of street protests in Senegal and the insistence of the international community including ECOWAS forced Mr Sall to agree to the election being held on Sunday, weeks after it should have been held. The results of the election are expected to be announced on Friday, 29 March. Like Ba, some of the other 15 presidential candidates have also congratulated Faye including Anta Ngom, the only woman running in the race. Successful elections in Senegal could serve as a beacon of hope in West Africa where there has been a coup resurgence with at least eight coups since 2020. Juntas currently rule West African countries such as Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, and Guinea.