Senegal looks set for second round in presidential elections

Unofficial results suggest that Senegal’s presidential election will go to a second round, as it seems unlikely that any candidate has garnered the required 50 per cent of votes plus one.

Reuters/Youssef Boudlal

85 year old President Abdoulaye Wade is seeking a disputed third term in office after circumventing a two-term limit he introduced into the constitution.

On Sunday, Wade was greeted with boos after casting his vote and he angrily pushed one of his bodyguards aside as he left hastily without speaking to waiting media.

Former prime minister Macky Sall, who was once Wade’s protégé, appears to be doing well in unofficial results trickling in from polling stations.

These results are being released on public television and websites, but the electoral commission will start announcing official results on Tuesday and must give a final result on Friday.

If a second round is held, it is likely to take place between 18 March and 01 April.

The former French colony of some 13 million people was one of Africa’s first democracies, and has held an unbroken series of elections since independence in 1960, never experiencing a coup.