President Macky Sall Thursday won a new term in office after the electoral commission credited him with 58.3 per cent of votes during the Sunday polls, clearly ahead of his rivals who said they rejected the result, but would not lodge a recourse with the Constitutional Council to contest it. Official but provisional results of the Sunday presidential polls gave the win to incumbent Macky Sall with 58.3 per cent of votes meaning that there will be no runoff. The provisional results must be approved by the Constitutional Council. Five candidates were on the ballot paper and Sall’s main challenger, former Prime Minister Idrissa Seck, received 21 per cent of votes while Ousmane Sonko had 16 per cent. Sall pivoted on his economic record during the campaign as he boasted about the country’s 6 per cent economic growth scored under his leadership.

Source: The North Africa Journal March 01, 2019 12:11 UTC