Senegal Election Update: Sall’s Main Contender Says Runoff Inevitable

President Macky Sall’s main challenger, Idrissa Seck has told his supporters that a presidential runoff is inevitable.

He was speaking at a press briefing he jointly organized at 10:50pm local time in Dakar with Ousmane Sonko, another opposition candidate.

Seck, a former Prime Minister who’s vying for the presidency for the third time, was flanked by supporters chanting ‘second round a must.’ He accused unnamed foreign media outlets of announcing fake results to favour President Macky Sall.

His accusation followed rumours that a French media outlet this evening reported that Macky Sall had won the election. The Chronicle cannot verify this claim.

Ousmane Sonko, a first time contender with a large following, also criticized some media outlets for ‘engaging in an activity that threatens Senegal’s peace and security’. He did not give any names.

He called for respect of Senegal’s electoral law which says only the electoral commission can declare election results.

Meanwhile, vote counting is still underway, with results trickling in from polling centers.

Streets of Dakar are mostly empty this evening as most people stay indoors ahead of the release of the results.

A candidate must secure more than 50 percent of the votes to be declared the winner in the first round. A runoff between the two leading candidates will be held on March 24 if there’s no outright winner in the first round.