President Macky Sall’s camp claims victory in Senegal polls

Hardly twelve hours after polls closed on Sunday, Senegal’s ruling party and the opposition have started declaring unofficial results indicating a first-round victory, and a stalemate leading to an election run-off respectively.

About 6.5 million Senegalese are registered to vote in Sunday’s presidential election pitting incumbent president Macky Sall against four other aspirants.

Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. (0800 GMT) and close at 6 p.m, while official results are due out on Friday, with a run-off for the top two on March 24 if no one secures a majority.

Mohammed Dionne said preliminary results suggested Macky Sall had secured about 57% of the vote in Sunday's elections, but an official result will take days.

But rival candidates warned against declaring the result prematurely.

The comments about the early result have already prompted scenes of celebration in Sall's home town of Fatick.

Prime Minister Dionne, who made the comments, is part of the same coalition of the president.

But Idrissa Seck and Ousmane Sonko, two of Sall's rival candidates, said they did not believe Sall had won more than 50% of the vote and that there should be a second round.

"At the current stage of the vote and the tally, no candidate, I say clearly, no candidate, myself included, can proclaim themselves winners of this presidential election," Sonko said, speaking before Dionne's announcement.

“We have abstained from proclaiming any results whatsoever and we have noticed that some press organization, including foreign press, have given themselves the right to give first-round results – that is totally unacceptable.”

Official results are due by Friday (March 1) at the latest with a run-off for the top two on March 24 if no one secures a majority.

The opposition also warned against an illegal declaration of results, calling on religious and traditional authorities to reason with Sall.