Senegal: Faye wins 54.28% in presidential vote

Anti-establishment figure Bassirou Diomaye Faye has comfortably won the Senegalese presidential election with 54.28 per cent of votes in the first round, official provisional results showed Wednesday.

He placed well ahead of the governing coalition’s candidate, former prime minister Amadou Ba, who garnered 35.79 per cent.

The victory for Faye, who was only freed from prison 10 days before the election, still has to be validated by Senegal’s top constitutional body, which could happen in a few days.

Faye, 44, who has said he wants a “break” with the current political system, is set to become the youngest president in Senegal’s history.

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Third-placed candidate Aliou Mamadou Dia won just 2.8 per cent of the vote, according to figures read out at the Dakar court by the president of the national vote counting commission, Amady Diouf.

While his victory in Sunday’s vote was already clear after the publication of unofficial partial results, the margin of Faye’s win was confirmed Wednesday by the vote counting commission, which falls under the judiciary.