About 7,372,110 registered voters (3,708,754 or 50.3 percent men and 3,663,356 or 49.7 percent women) are expected to vote for a new president for Senegal this Sunday.
Eighteen candidates including former prime ministers, ministers, a local mayor, businessmen, a woman, a member of the National Assembly, journalists and others are on the ballot.
Cheikh Tidiane Dieye withdrew his candidacy in favour of Bassirou Diomaye Faye on Wednesday saying he took the decision to avoid the dispersal of opposition votes.
Shortly afterwards, former candidate Rose Wardini announced her support for Amadou Ba who has also received the backing of some leaders of Karim Wade’s PDS. Wade was also disqualified from running.
The election will be organised by the Directorate General for Elections (DGE) in collaboration with the Autonomous National Electoral Commission (CENA).
In Sunday’s polls, only those 18 years or above before 25 February 2024 (the original date of the election) will be able to vote at the 15,633 domestic polling stations and 809 abroad in 51 countries including The Gambia.
About fifteen thousand Senegalese in The Gambia are expected to cast votes at 35 polling stations in the country between 8am and 6pm.
To be able to run for president, a person must exclusively hold Senegalese citizenship, be at least 35 years old by election day, and must not have been convicted of a felony.
Presidential elections in Senegal are organised through a majoritarian system with two possible rounds of voting. A candidate who receives 50 percent or more of the vote is declared the winner. If no candidate receives 50 percent of the vote, there will be a second-round runoff election between the two candidates who received the most votes.
According to Senegal’s electoral law, the national-level tally centre (Commission Nationale des Recensement des Votes [CNRV]) tabulates votes from polling stations as it receives them and must publish the results no later than midnight on the Tuesday following voting (March 26).
Current president Macky Sall will vacate office on April 2.
