Senegalese voters go to the polls on Sunday to elect a new president in an unexpected contest following three years of turbulence and political crises.
The West African nation has 7.3 million registered voters, with two front-runners emerging: the ruling coalition’s former prime minister Amadou Ba and anti-establishment challenger Bassirou Diomaye Faye.
They were both tax inspectors in the past, but they seem to have little in common now. Ba, 62, represents continuity, whereas Faye, 43, promises dramatic change and left-wing pan-Africanism.
Both predict they will win the first round, but with 15 other contenders in the field, including a single woman, a second round appears likely at an undetermined date.
Former Dakar mayor Khalifa Sall, 68, is regarded to have a slim chance.
The ultimate winner will be charged with guiding Senegal out of its recent challenges and managing earnings from oil and gas reserves that are insufficient to begin production.
Voting will close at 1800 GMT, and provisional results could be available overnight. The first official findings are expected in the following week.
Senegal has long been regarded as a symbol of democracy and stability in the coup-plagued area, where Russia is expanding its influence.
Raucous campaign
Hundreds of observers will be there, representing civil society, the African Union, the ECOWAS regional group, and the European Union.
A rowdy campaign, which lasted only two weeks after being truncated, followed a stunning last-minute change to the election date, which was previously set for February 25.
President Macky Sall’s intervention to postpone the presidential elections triggered rioting that resulted in four deaths.
Sall, who received international accolades last year for rejecting a potential third-term ambition, said he cancelled the vote due to concerns that it would not go well.
After weeks of political turmoil, the country’s highest constitutional court intervened and compelled him to change the date to March 24, despite the fact that it coincided with the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
Sall’s handpicked would-be successor, Amadou Ba, has positioned himself as a last stronghold against “bandits” and urged people to vote “for experience and competence instead of entrusting the reins of the country to adventurers”.
“We don’t need officials who need two years of apprenticeship,” Ba said at his final campaign rally on Friday.
“We need to consolidate what we have. We need to go even faster and further.”
He has pledged to create one million jobs in five years, but he will also face the darker side of Sall’s legacy, which includes mass arrests, persistent poverty, 20% unemployment, and thousands of people embarking on the risky journey to Europe every year.
Radical reform
The current turmoil in Senegal was the latest chapter in a series of violent occurrences that began in 2021, sparked in part by a standoff between the state and the firebrand opposition icon Ousmane Sonko.
Economic and social pressures, as well as suspicions that Sall may seek a third term, fueled the disturbance, which resulted in scores of deaths and hundreds of arrests.
The election has also been fueled by a hastily approved amnesty law, which resulted in the March 14 release from prison of opposition leaders Faye and the charismatic Sonko.
Although Faye is Sonko’s deputy, he is only on the ballot because Sonko is forbidden from running, and voters consider them a package deal.
The two have blasted Ba as “the greatest danger facing Senegal today”.
They have also questioned his source of money, referring to him as a “billionaire civil servant” who “will be the president of foreign countries”.
Faye promised Friday to bring “radical reform” to Senegal, including renegotiating mining, oil and gas, and defense contracts, while also assuring foreign investors.
“Henceforth we will be a sovereign State, independent, which will work with everyone, but in win-win partnerships” , added the prime minister.
The couple hopes to capitalize on Sonko’s charisma and popularity in a country where half of the population is under the age of 20.
Sonko has a devoted following among Senegal’s youth due to his discourse on sovereignty, as well as his attacks on elites, international corporations, and colonial ruler France.
Experts have warned that emotions could flare up on Sunday and subsequently, especially if Ba wins the first round and Faye fails to advance to the second round.