Senegal opposition candidate Faye leads initial presidential election tallies
By Diadie Ba
DAKAR (Reuters) -The first polling station tallies of Senegal's delayed presidential election on Sunday showed opposition candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye taking the lead, prompting street celebrations after a peaceful day of voting that many hope will bring change.
Millions lined up to elect Senegal's fifth president following three years of unprecedented political turbulence that sparked violent anti-government protests and buoyed support for the opposition.
At stake is the potential end of an administration that has pushed investor-friendly policies but failed to ease economic hardship in one of coup-prone West Africa's more stable democracies.
Voters had a choice of 19 contenders to replace President Macky Sall, stepping down after a second term marred by unrest over the prosecution of firebrand opposition leader Ousmane Sonko and concerns that Sall wanted to extend his mandate past the constitutional limit.
The incumbent was not on the ballot for the first time in Senegal's history. His ruling coalition picked former prime minister Amadou Ba, 62, as its candidate.
The election day was smooth with no major incidents reported. Polls closed at 1800 GMT, after which voting bureaus started publishing their tallies.
The first set of tallies announced on television showed Faye had won the majority of votes, triggering widespread street celebrations among opposition supporters in the capital Dakar.
About 7.3 million people were registered to vote in the country of around 18 million. It was not clear how many of the 15,633 polling stations had finished counting.
Final provisional results are expected by Tuesday. A second round of voting will take place if no candidate secures the more than 50% majority required
Read more on investing.com
