The ruling presidential candidate in Senegal, Amadou Ba, recognized Monday, March 25, the victory of anti-system opponent Bassirou Diomaye Faye in the first round of the election, Sunday, and congratulated him, through a statement.
“In view of the trends in the results of the presidential election and while awaiting the official proclamation, I congratulate President Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye for his victory in the first round,” declared Mr. Ba. The government spokesperson, Abdou Karim Fofana, announced for his part that Amadou Ba had also called his opponent to congratulate him.
The official results should be known later this week. The national electoral commission has until Friday to publish provisional results, before their validation by the Constitutional Council.
“System Change”
After three years of agitation and crisis, the Senegalese know the name of their next head of state following a vote which decided between continuity and perhaps radical change.
Bassirou Diomaye Faye will become the fifth president of this West African country of 18 million inhabitants, and the youngest in its history. Released from eleven months of imprisonment ten days before the election, at the same time as his guide and leader of his dissolved party Ousmane Sonko, Mr. Faye wants to be the “candidate for system change” and a “pan-Africanism of LEFT “. His program insists on the reestablishment of national “sovereignty”, which he believes has been sold off to foreign countries.
He promised to fight corruption and better distribute wealth, and pledged to renegotiate mining, gas and oil contracts concluded with foreign companies.