Opposition leads race for Senegal presidency - reports

Bassirou Diomaye Faye is leading the race, according to local media. The ruling coalition’s choice, Amadou Ba, has denied that he has lost. Mr Faye, 44, was a senior official in the Pastef party led by Ousmane Sonko. First set of tallies announced on television showed Mr Faye had won the majority of votes.

The results led to five opposition candidates declaring him the winner. Supporters set off fireworks, waved Senegalese flags and blew vuvuzelas. It is not clear how many of the 15,633 polling stations have been counted. Mr Sonko backed Mr Faye, the co-creator of his now dissolved Pastef party.

Mr Sall, the incumbent, was not on the ballot for the first time in Senegal’s history. An amnesty law passed this month allowed their release days before the vote. The election had been due to take place last month but Mr Sall postponed it, triggering deadly opposition protests. His ruling coalition picked Mr Ba, 62, a former prime minister.

About 7. 3 million people were registered to vote in the country of around 18 million.