DAKAR, Senegal: The European Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have praised the smooth conduct of the presidential election, won by an anti-establishment opponent after three years of unrest in the country.
Around 7.3 million Senegalese were eligible to take part in Sunday’s vote, which saw 44-year-old Bassirou Diomaye Faye elected as the youngest president in the country’s history after his main rival and government candidate, Amadou Ba, conceded defeat.
The observation missions deployed to Senegal by the EU and ECOWAS on Tuesday said that voting generally went smoothly and in a largely peaceful atmosphere. “Voting generally went smoothly and in a largely peaceful atmosphere,” head of the mission deployed by the West Africa’s regional bloc, Ibrahim Gambari, said at a press conference in Dakar.
Malin Bjork, the head of the EU mission, also praised what he termed a well-organised and open election that demonstrated the strength of the country’s democratic institutions. He addressed a separate press conference.
She told media that on the whole, the presidential poll was well organized adding that voters were able to make their choice freely in an orderly and peaceful atmosphere.
It is to mention here that the ECOWAS had deployed 130 observers and the EU another 100.
Senegal, traditionally viewed as a stable democracy in coup-hit West Africa, is a key player in the ECOWAS bloc.
Though official provisional results will be published within days, but Faye’s opponents in the presidential race and outgoing President Macky Sall have already conceded defeat.
Since 2021, dozens have been killed and hundreds arrested in various phases of unrest triggered partly by the stand-off between the opposition figure Ousmane Sonko and the state. Sonko backed Faye’s candidacy after being barred from the race.
President Sall’s postponing the presidential vote, originally scheduled for February 25, plunged the country into its worst political crises in decades that left four people dead.
