DAKAR: Senegal voted on Sunday for a new president in a delayed election that follows a political crisis and years of unrest, with the two favourites both claiming confidence in an outright win.
The winner will be tasked with steering Senegal, viewed as a beacon of democracy in coup-hit West Africa, out of its recent troubles and managing revenues from oil and gas reserves that are shortly to start production.
Two favourites have emerged among the 17 candidates who include a sole woman: the governing coalition's former prime minister Amadou Ba and anti-establishment candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye.
Both were once tax inspectors but Ba, 62, now stands for continuity while the 43-year-old Faye promises profound change and left-wing pan-Africanism.
Both have also pitched themselves as the best candidate for young people in a county where half the population is under 20.
"I voted for Diomaye without thinking," said Diaraaf Gaye, a 26-year-old shopkeeper. "It's time for the country to start on a new footing with young people" in power.
But 23-year-old Ndeye Penda Faye, a housekeeper, said she was pinning her hopes on the government's candidate.
"(President) Macky Sall has done a lot of work and that's why I'm going to vote for Amadou Ba, to continue the work," she said.
Senegal was originally due to vote on February 25, but an 11th-hour postponement by Sall triggered the worst political crisis in decades that left four dead.
On Sunday, calm queues formed outside polling stations, with many voters having woken up early to pray before daybreak before heading straight to polling stations.
Voting materials including ballot boxes were still labelled with the original February poll date.
"We finally got there. May God be praised. Recent times haven't been easy for Senegal which has experienced several upheavals," said Mita Diop, a 51-year-old trader.
"But all that is behind us now," she added, emerging from a polling station in the capital Dakar with her finger stained in red ink to show she had cast her ballot.
Opposition figurehead Ousmane Sonko — who was barred from standing due to a defamation conviction — said young people had "massively" turned out to vote. — AFP
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