Senegal’s ruling coalition announced victory in most districts in the legislative elections held yesterday, Sunday, which was called into question by the opposition, who announced their victory in these elections.
“Out of 46 constituencies, we won 30. We voted overwhelmingly for our president,” said ruling coalition leader and former prime minister Aminata Toure.
Benno Bok Yakar, leader of President Macky Sall’s coalition, also described the results as “accurate, precise, unbiased and not made up” with victories in northern, western and central Senegal.
And the mayor of Dakar, Barthelemy Diaz, condemned the results, saying that “the opposition won the election.” He urged the youth to rally to “keep their victory”.
Official election results are expected to be announced later this week.
It was expected that 6.8 million voters would take part in the voting to elect 165 deputies of the National Assembly. The opposition has focused its campaign on the need to vote against the governing coalition to prevent President Sall from seeking a third term in the 2024 presidential election.
The political atmosphere in Senegal is tinged with tension. Violent protests erupted last year after Sal’s main opponent Osman Sonko was arrested on rape charges and more than a dozen people were killed.
Sonko, who came third in the 2019 election, denied the allegations, and his supporters opposed the president.
This year, Sonko and another prominent opponent, Sal, were disqualified as candidates, sparking widespread outrage and protests, during which three people were killed in June.
Source: Associated Press