Ruling Party’s Candidate In Senegal Election Congratulates Opponent Before Official Declaration

Reports have emerged that Senegal’s anti-establishment candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye is set to become president after his main rival on Monday recognised his victory in elections that came barely days after he was freed from prison.

The win by the opposition candidate who will be Senegal’s youngest president could trigger a political earthquake with policies that will transform the country.

The 44-year-old Faye promised left-wing pan-Africanism and to renegotiate gas and oil contracts, with Senegal due to start production on recently discovered oil and gas reserves later this year.

The opposition candidate has never held a nationally elected position and has not yet spoken publicly since Sunday’s election, which followed three years of unrest and a political crisis.

His main rival from the governing coalition, Amadou Ba, recognised Faye’s win in the first-round of the vote and offered his congratulations, a statement said.

“Considering the trends of the presidential election results and awaiting the official declaration, I congratulate the president Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye on his victory in the first round,” Ba said in the statement.

Government spokesman Abdou Karim Fofana also said that Ba had called his rival to congratulate him.

Faye had appeared clearly ahead of 62-year-old former prime minister Ba, according to provisional results from individual polling stations published by local media and on social networks.

Official results are expected before the end of the week. An absolute majority was required for a first-round win.

Hundreds of jubilant Faye supporters had gathered at his campaign headquarters in the capital Dakar late Sunday.

“It’s a total revolution. Everything is going to change. Behaviourally, socially and financially, everything is going to change,” Coumba Diallo, a singer known as Queen Biz, enthused.

At least 10 of the 17 presidential candidates had earlier Monday congratulated Faye in light of provisional results published by the media.

Faye was released from prison 10 days before the election under a rapidly passed amnesty law, together with opposition figurehead Ousmane Sonko.

He had been jailed since last year on charges linked to a standoff between Sonko and the state. Sonko was barred from running in the presidential race.