Senegal election 2024 updates: Millions vote in hotly contested polls

Polls are now closed after 10 hours of voting.

Vote counting has begun, and provisional results are expected by Tuesday, March 26. Voting bureaus will begin posting their tallies from Sunday night onward.

If no candidate wins more than 50 percent, a run-off election will take place between leading candidates.

Thank you for joining us. You can read more about the election here, and find more news from Senegal here.

Polls will close at 18:00 GMT. Here’s a recap of the day:

• Millions of voters in Senegal gathered from 8am onward to cast ballots to elect their next president among a crowded field of candidates.
• There were long queues at polling stations and election observers said the voting process was largely “calm”.
• The delayed polls took place following a period of uncertainty after President Macky Sall’s unsuccessful effort to delay the election.
• There were no clear frontrunners, but former Prime Minister Amadou Ba from the ruling Benno Bokk Yakaar (BBY) coalition and Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who ran in place of disqualified opposition figure Ousmane Sonko, are considered the most popular choices to replace Sall.
• A candidate has to secure more than 50 percent of the vote to win in the first round. If not, a run-off election will take place. Both Ba and Faye said they were confident about a first-round result.

Anta Babacar Ngom, 40, is the sole woman competing in the presidential race and would be the first woman to serve as Senegal’s president if elected.

As voters, women are a key demographic in the elections, and their vote could tip the outcome.

Hundreds of thousands came out to cast their ballots on Sunday.

El Hadji Mamadou Mbaye, a political science lecturer and researcher at the University of Saint-Louis, says he expects Ba and Faye to lead the race.

“We know that these are the two who will emerge if there is no tsunami,” he told the French news agency AFP.

“The whole issue will come down to the third [place candidate] who will be the referee,” he added.

Mbaye noted that Faye is a contender “who does not come from the system” so his win would be a political “earthquake”.

While there are no public election polls in Senegal, Faye is seen as a strong contender to replace Sall.

Most of Sonko’s supporters are expected to vote for Faye, making the latter a serious threat to the other 16 presidential hopefuls. Sonko is popular among urban youth frustrated with a lack of jobs and economic hardship in a country where 60 percent of the population is younger than 25.

According to internal government polling, only 60 percent of those who voted for Sall in the last election are believed to be planning to vote for BBY’s candidate this time.

High-profile politicians, including former Prime Minister Aminata Toure, who had a public falling-out with Sall and left the ruling coalition last year, have also backed Faye.

Election observers said voter turnout among the more than seven million registered voters appeared to be high on Sunday, though more precise figures were not yet available.

Babacar Gueye, who heads Senegal’s COSCE civil society network of observers, said participation was important to give the election legitimacy.

“At the opening of polling stations today, I have never in the past 15 years seen so many people going to vote,” he told The Associated Press.

Mamadou Bodian, a researcher at Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar, told Al Jazeera there was a “huge influx of voters” even before the polls opened in Ziguinchor, southern Senegal, where he is based.

“Voter turnout is a critical factor, especially following a 66 percent national turnout in 2019, and today there is speculation that the participation may increase despite a compressed campaign period,” he said. “I think that’s the importance of this election, which people call a historical moment”

What do three leading election candidates and one former favourite for the office of president have in common? They are all current or former tax inspectors.

For many, this is a simple coincidence, their earlier professions having no bearing on their selection for candidacy. But for others, their perceived wealth and financial savvy make a difference.

“Financial power looks for political power,” says Alioune Tine, a prominent Senegalese political analyst.

Guillaume Soto-Mayor, a nonresident scholar at the Middle East Institute, says the reputation of tax inspectors can be beneficial – but also harmful.

Read our story here.

Foreign investors and international partners are keeping a close eye on the election in Senegal, a country traditionally seen as a safe investment destination.

“In the medium to long term, there is a real concern among investors about what this election saga means for democracy and, therefore, stability,” Tiffany Wognaih, senior associate with Africa Matters Limited, a risk analysis consulting firm, told Al Jazeera.

Wognaih said that due to uncertainty surrounding the election, investors face higher operational and security risks. And while most have not shut down their operations, they remain in a “wait and see” mode over regulatory and legislative changes that could happen with a new government.

Read our story here.

Questions are being asked about the strength and resilience of Senegal’s democracy as President Macky Sall’s 12-year-long tenure draws to a close.

Sall promised a new era of good governance in Senegal with his 2012 presidential victory. He said he would address the consolidation of power in the presidency by fostering a more democratic system while also tackling issues of social justice and equity.

Central to his campaign was a commitment to reduce presidential terms from seven to five years, reversing an increase that former President Abdoulaye Wade had implemented. Wade had also threatened to run for a third – and unconstitutional – term in office.

So history seemed to be repeating itself when Sall appeared to be considering a bid for a third term after postponing the presidential election that was due to be held last month, sparking protests throughout the country.

Read our story here.

When President Macky Sall announced the cancellation of the election in February, there was an uproar from civil society in Senegal, specifically the Aar Sunu Election (Protect Our Election) group, led by Dr Abdoulaye Bousso.

“I think today is a very great day for us,” Bousso told Al Jazeera in Dakar. “We fought to have this election day happen and we are very proud to see the big mobilisation of the Senegalese people.

“For us, it’s the victory of the Senegalese democracy.”

Comparing Senegal to other regional countries that have seen coups in recent years – Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso – Bousso said, “We are very proud in Senegal to be able to face all our opposition, our difficulties, our misunderstandings, in a democratic way. We have very strong institutions.

“I think strong institutions are very important on our continent. And I’m sure most African countries will learn from what happened in this country, to show that it’s not about the power of one person to decide, but it’s the power of the people.”

Ousmane Sonko 49, was the undisputed candidate of the PASTEF party, which he helped found in 2014. He was disqualified from the ballot because he faces a six-month suspended sentence following his conviction for defamation.

Sonko rose to fame in 2016 after being removed from his post as a tax inspector for denouncing the opacity of certain public contracts and the privileges of the political class.

He ran in the 2019 presidential election and came third due to his defence of traditional and religious values.

After a prolonged legal battle started when he was accused of rape in 2021, he was acquitted but was convicted of corrupting the youth and sentenced to two years in prison last summer, igniting deadly protests across Senegal.

In January, he was disqualified from the ballot following his conviction, but his supporters maintain his legal troubles are part of a government effort to derail his candidacy.

In Dakar, voter Mita Diop emerged from a polling station with her finger stained with red ink to show she had cast her ballot.

“We finally got there. May God be praised,” the 51-year-old trader told the AFP.

“Recent times haven’t been easy for Senegal, which has experienced several upheavals.

“But all that is behind us now.”

Another voter, Mohamed Bop, 42, told AFP: “It’s a symbolic and historic day for me because it wasn’t easy to hold these elections; it was gained through a great fight.

“So, I’m very relieved and proud.”

Hundreds of election observers from civil society, the African Union, the regional group the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the European Union are on the ground monitoring the fairness of the vote.

Malin Bjork, from the EU election observer mission to Senegal, spoke to Al Jazeera in Dakar:

“The European Union has an observation mission,” she said. “It’s about 100 observers but also a team of analysts, of experts, who are here since the 13th of January, so we are following the process throughout – the preparations, the day itself, and then the counting and compilation of votes.

“From the opening this morning, our observers – and it’s a partial piece of the picture – we have seen that there are quite some queues in front of the offices, which shows that people are mobilised to go and use their right to vote and express their views for the future of Senegal.

“Election offices are functioning well. It’s calm; there is serenity in the process, according to our observations.”

Bassirou Diomaye Faye, Senegal’s anti-establishment presidential candidate, said he was “convinced” of victory in the first round, after voting in his western village of Ndiaganiao.

“I remain confident about the choice for the change that I am able to embody better than any other candidate,” he said alongside his two wives, adding that he was “convinced that this election will be decided in the first round”, AFP reported.

Analysts say no candidate is expected to win more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round, which means a run-off between leading candidates is expected.

Amadou Ba, the presidential candidate for Senegal’s governing Benno Bokk Yakaar (BBY) coalition, said he was “very confident” of a first-round election win after he voted in Dakar.

“There is no doubt that at the end of today, we should know the next president of the republic,” he said, adding he was “very, very, very confident” of his chances, AFP reported.

It’s been more than four hours since voting for the fifth president of Senegal commenced.

In the long queues are many women – faces not seen on the streets during the months of demonstrations that this nation experienced.

Heavily contested by 17 candidates, the election pits the young generation against the older generation.

Desperate and unemployed, many young voters advocate for a change of leadership.

Even though he has more than a decade to go before he can vote in any election, six-year-old Abdoulaye Sall from Dakar tells our correspondent Nicolas Haque that he wants to be Senegal’s president one day.

He says he plans to bring jobs.

Unemployment is a key issue in this year’s election.

“It is quite an unusual election,” says Al Jazeera correspondent Nicolas Haque.

“There is both anticipation like you would have in any election; there is an element of fear and unknown because this is the first election in the last 12 years where President Macky Sall is not in the running … and there is an element of excitement, especially among those young, first-time voters.

“This is an election like no other and it’s very important, especially for young people.”

Listen to this episode of our podcast, The Take, where we discuss what the election means for Senegal’s democracy and its future: