Voters in Senegal went to the polls on Sunday to elect a new president.

Polling stations in Dakar closed on schedule at 6 p.m (1800 UTC) after a largely incident-free election day.

It was not immediately clear how many of the country's 6.5 million registered voters turned out. Official results are due on Friday with a run-off for the top two on March 24 if no one secures a majority.

Incumbent President Macky Sall became the front runner after two prominent opposition figures — former minister Karim Wade and former Dakar mayor Khalifa Sall — were barred from the election due to convictions for misuse of public funds.

Supporters of Senegalese President Macky Sall hold posters

Sall's competitors are former Prime Minister Idrissa Seck, Issa Sall of the Unity and Assembly Party (PUR), former Justice and Foreign Minister Madicke Niang and tax inspector-turned parliamentarian Ousmane Sonko.

After voting in the southwest city of Zinguinchor, Sonko pledged he would accept the outcome as long as the electoral process if credible and free of fraud.

Read more: President Macky Sall: ‘Senegal doesn’t need any lessons in democracy’

Some 15,000 polling stations opened around the country at 8 a.m. (0800 GMT/UTC) and will close at 6 p.m., with preliminary results expected not long after.

Sall, who represents the Alliance for the Republic party, has mostly campaigned on the promise to implement a second phase of his socio-economic development program.

He has been in power since 2012 and his initiatives include investment in infrastructure and a social grant system for the West African nation's poorest families.

Sall's main rival is Idrissa Seck, 59, a former prime minister and candidate of the Rewmi party.

Voter choices limited

The five-candidate race leaves voters with a limited choice compared to 2012 when 14 candidates vied for the top post, and 2007 when 15 battled it out for the presidency.

Some 6.7 million people from Senegal's population of 16 million are registered to vote.

To win the election outright, a candidate must get more than 50 percent of the votes cast.

If no one wins more than half the ballots on Sunday, a second vote is provisionally scheduled for March 24. The exact timing will be determined by how long it takes to officially proclaim the first-round results, and whether there is a challenge.

A new system approved by parliament last year, despite opposition party challenges, requires candidates to demonstrate they have the support of a minimum number of citizens and regions.

Muslim-majority Senegal is one of Africa's most stable countries, and has experienced strong growth while largely escaping the jihadist attacks that have destabilized its neighbors, such as Mali.

Two candidates barred

The Constitutional Council made the decision to bar Khalifa Sall (no relation to Macky Sall) and Wade in January.

Khalifa Sall, one of Senegal's most popular politicians, was sentenced to five years in prison for corruption in 2018.

The 63-year-old argued at the time that the verdict was politically motivated, but his attempt to appeal his sentence was denied.

Barred candidate Wade, the son of former president Abdoulaye Wade, had been groomed for the position and was set to be the candidate of Senegal's largest opposition party, the Senegalese Democratic Party.

law/aw (AFP, dpa)

Every evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here.</s>DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Senegal’s prime minister claims that incumbent president Macky Sall has won re-election, though the opposition rejects the assertion and says the vote should go to a runoff.

Prime Minister Mahammed Boun Abdallah Dionne, who is from the ruling party, told reporters late Sunday that his unofficial results show that Sall had won 57 percent of the vote. The winning candidate must get more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a second round.

However, the top opposition candidate Idrissa Seck told reporters that he and his supporters do not accept the unofficial reports of a Sall victory.

Senegal’s electoral commission will release the official results, and that is not expected until Tuesday.

Sall faced four challengers in Sunday’s vote including Seck, who has run for the office twice before.</s>DAKAR, Senegal — Senegalese voters are choosing whether to give President Macky Sall a second term in office as he faces four challengers.

Polls opened at 8 a.m. in the capital of Dakar, where Sall has dubbed himself the "builder of modern Senegal."

The West African democracy has a long tradition of peaceful transfers of power.

Critics, though, have accused Sall of blocking two prominent opposition politicians from challenging him in the vote including Dakar's former mayor.

The presidency asserts that the disqualified candidates were convicted of corruption charges and that Senegal's judiciary is independent.

Sall must win a majority in Sunday's vote in order to avoid a runoff. His main competitors are former prime minister Idrissa Seck and former tax official Ousmane Sonko.</s>Senegal's president is banking on a booming economy for his re-election bid in Sunday's vote.

But opposition candidates are focusing on poverty and unemployment, which are pushing people to seek a better life abroad.

These are two wildly disparate views of Senegal, but now it is up to the six million voters of Senegal to decide which rings more true.</s>Senegal voters choose whether to give president another term

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Senegal's President Macky Sall sought re-election Sunday on his record of building roads and creating jobs, while opposition supporters maintained those efforts had not reached many in this West African country where young men often risk their lives to migrate to Europe.

This year's vote also has been marked by allegations that the presidency had effectively blocked two prominent opposition politicians from taking part: Dakar's former mayor and the son of the president Sall ousted from office in 2012.

Sall, 57, who cast his ballot in his hometown of Fatick, was hoping to win a second term outright Sunday without heading to a runoff vote. Opposition voters were divided between four candidates including Idrissa Seck, a former prime minister who has run for the presidency twice before.

"I hope that after this election whomever is chosen will be the president of all Senegalese," Sall said at his polling station. "I hope that will be me."

Sall has dubbed himself "the builder of modern Senegal," and billboards lining Dakar's highways tout the 221 kilometers (137 miles) of new roads and a high speed train in the works that will link the capital to its brand new international airport.

The West African country's annual GDP growth was 7.2 percent in 2017, and Sall says some 491,000 jobs were created during his first term. He is pledging to add 1 million more if re-elected.

In Dakar's Guediawaye neighborhood, voters made their way across a sand courtyard to cast ballots at the Kawsara Fall school just before 8 a.m., many clutching prayer beads and plastic cups of coffee.

Mamadou Tall, 45, said that he was backing Seck, an opposition candidate, because the president's big projects had yet to improve the lives of many Senegalese.

"Around here there are many young men taking the boats to Europe. Unemployment is a real problem," said Tall, who wore a long flowing white embroidered robe known as a boubou. "In many families there is one person working and he's supporting 12 to 15 relatives."

While the president has touted the city's new airport, Tall pointed out that the project began under his predecessor, Abdoulaye Wade, and said it really only benefits the well-off.

"Most people here in this neighborhood will never get on a plane," he said.

Others, though, pointed to tangible benefits over the last seven years that they attributed to Sall's leadership.

Demba Diagne, 25, says life has gotten better especially in Senegal's rural areas even if there is more work to be done.

"My friend had to go on a horse-drawn cart for 7 kilometers (4 miles) while she was in labor to get to a hospital," he recounted. "Under Macky, there are ambulances now."

Voters who criticize Sall's efforts need to be more patient, he insisted.

"What can you do in only seven years? To finish a house, it takes longer than six months," said Diagne. "To change a country, you have to leave him time to do good work."

Sall became president in 2012 after campaigning on a message of change and then beating longtime former President Abdoulaye Wade. A constitutional referendum since then has shortened the presidential term from seven years to five. Sall weathered some criticism after he still finished out his seven-year mandate following that law change.

Senegal has long been a democratic example in West Africa where coups and clinging to power used to be all too common in neighboring countries. European Union election observers reported no major irregularities by mid-day Sunday.

"The polls opened in a calm environment without violence or significant incidents noted at this hour by our observers," the EU mission said.

Absent from Sunday's ballot were two prominent opposition figures who had sought to run but were blocked from doing so after both men were convicted of corruption charges in separate and unrelated trials. Supporters for both men maintain those charges were politically motivated and part of an effort to sideline their candidacies.

Former Dakar Mayor Khalifa Sall is currently serving a five-year sentence on charges of misusing public funds. Karim Wade, son of the former president, has been in self-imposed exile in Qatar since he was released from prison in 2016 following a pardon after serving time on corruption charges.

Supporters of Khalifa Sall, who is no relation to the president, have mostly rallied behind Seck. On Sunday, though, there was still a sense of injustice among the former mayor's ardent supporters.

"He's a thief, Macky Sall," said Karim Ba, 37. "There's nothing fair about this election. There should be seven candidates on the ballot — not five."

Associated Press writers Amelia Nierenberg and Babacar Dione contributed to this report.</s>DAKAR, Senegal (AP) - Senegalese voters are choosing whether to give President Macky Sall a second term in office as he faces four challengers.

Polls opened at 8 a.m. in the capital of Dakar, where Sall has dubbed himself the "builder of modern Senegal."

The West African democracy has a long tradition of peaceful transfers of power.

Critics, though, have accused Sall of blocking two prominent opposition politicians from challenging him in the vote including Dakar's former mayor.

The presidency asserts that the disqualified candidates were convicted of corruption charges and that Senegal's judiciary is independent.

Sall must win a majority in Sunday's vote in order to avoid a runoff. His main competitors are former prime minister Idrissa Seck and former tax official Ousmane Sonko.

In this photo taken on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, supporters of Senegalese President Macky Sall cheer as he speaks at a rally ahead of Sunday's presidential elections in Dakar, Senegal. Sall is seeking a second term in office and hopes to win re-election Sunday in the first round. (AP Photo/Jane Hahn)

In this photo taken on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, Senegalese President Macky Sall speaks at a rally ahead of Sunday's presidential elections, in Dakar, Senegal. Sall is seeking a second term in office and hopes to win re-election Sunday in the first round. (AP Photo/Jane Hahn)</s>DAKAR, Senegal (AP) - Senegal's prime minister has claimed that incumbent president Macky Sall has won re-election, though the opposition rejected his assertion and said the vote should go to a runoff.

Prime Minister Mahammed Boun Abdallah Dionne, who is from the ruling party, told reporters late Sunday that his unofficial results show that Sall had won 57 percent of the vote according to results compiled by their team. The winning candidate must get more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a second round.

"Tomorrow, the people will have the results in all departments. We will see that President Sall was re-elected in the first round," said Dionne, adding that his party's unofficial results show that Sall won in 13 of Senegal's 14 regions.

However, top opposition candidate Idrissa Seck told reporters that he and his supporters do not accept the unofficial reports of a Sall victory.

"We congratulate the people who have mainly expressed their choice in favor of the opposition," said Seck. He blamed media outlets for wrongly citing results given by Sall's party as official.

"We will not accept these results, we call on all Senegalese people to remain vigilant and carefully prepare for the second round," said Seck.

Opposition candidate Ousmane Sonko, who is popular with the youth, also spoke at a press conference with Seck and agreed that preliminary results indicate a second round should be held.

"I call on the religious leaders to call the ruling party to their senses," said Sonko.

The official results announced by Senegal's electoral commission are not expected until at least Tuesday.

If no candidate wins a clear majority of more than 50 percent, the country will go to a second round of voting next month.

Sall faced four challengers in Sunday's vote including Seck, who has run for the office twice before.

The 57-year-old incumbent sought re-election on his record of building roads and creating jobs, while opposition supporters maintained those efforts had not reached many in this West African country where young men often risk their lives to migrate to Europe.

This year's vote also has been marked by allegations that the presidency had effectively blocked two prominent opposition politicians from taking part: Dakar's former mayor and the son of the president who Sall had ousted from office in 2012.

That year he had campaigned on a message of change to beat longtime former President Abdoulaye Wade. A constitutional referendum since then has shortened the presidential term from seven years to five. Sall weathered some criticism after he still finished out his seven-year mandate following that law change.

Senegal has long been a democratic example in West Africa where coups and clinging to power used to be all too common in neighboring countries. European Union election observers reported no major irregularities by mid-day Sunday.

Associated Press writer Carley Petesch in Dakar, Senegal contributed to this report.</s>Senegal's President and a candidate for the upcoming presidential elections Macky Sall, speaks after casting his vote at a polling station as his wife Marem Faye Sall stands behind in Fatick, Senegal February 24, 2019. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra Senegal's President and a candidate for the upcoming presidential elections Macky Sall, speaks after casting his vote at a polling station as his wife Marem Faye Sall stands behind in Fatick, Senegal February 24, 2019. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

DAKAR (Reuters) – Senegal’s prime minister said President Macky Sall won the first round of an election on Sunday with at least 57 percent of votes, even as the opposition said preliminary results showed a run-off was unavoidable.

“We must congratulate the President for his re-election in the first round,” Prime Minister Mohammed Dionne told journalists, also citing preliminary figures.

Official results are due by Friday at the latest with a run-off for the top two on March 24 if no one secures a majority.</s>Women in Senegal could choose the country's next president when voters head to the polls on Sunday.

But for the first time in 26 years, there is no female candidate running for the presidency.

Women are not just paid less than men, but they are also taxed more.

Inheritance and family laws favour men over women and Senegal has yet to adopt a gender discrimination law.</s>Dakar, Senegal - Millions of Senegalese citizens are preparing to head to polling stations across the West African country on Sunday to elect a new president.

More than 6.5 million people have registered to take part in the vote, the first since a 2016 referendum reduced a president's term in office from seven to five years.

The change means a leader can now only serve a maximum of two five-year terms.

The campaign period, which started on February 4, came to an end on late Friday as candidates made last minute promises in a bid to win over voters. Infrastructure, corruption, and employment are some of the most pressing issues for the electorate ahead of the vote.

Under President Macky Sall, Senegal has enjoyed a boom in construction projects, such as the completion of the long-delayed half a billion dollar airport outside the capital Dakar, and the futuristic city of Diamniadio, which is being built from scratch.

Last month, President Sall and his Gambian counterpart Adama Barrow also inaugurated the Senegambia bridge, which the leaders hope will invigorate trade between the neighbours.

Roads have been built and more homes have access to electricity. Power cuts and water shortages have also became rare in Dakar, since Sall came to power in 2012.

Sall's supporters hope these achievements will get him re-elected.

"Most people who will vote for the president are saying that what is important is all the different infrastructure [Sall] has built. They argue that prices of basic goods have remained stagnant more or less because of this," Cheikh Thiam, an associate professor at Dakar Institute for African Studies told Al Jazeera.

Despite the flagship infrastructure projects, more than one third of Senegal's 15 million population still live below the poverty line, according to the UN.

Despite being one of the most stable democracies on the continent, Senegal is ranked 67 out of 180 in Transparency International's corruption perception index.

All of the candidates standing for election on Sunday have promised to make graft a thing of the past, if they win.

At least 60 percent of the country's population is under the age of 25. Most are unemployed and restless.

President Sall claims to have created more than 400,000 jobs mostly for young people since he came to office seven years ago, but experts and opposition candidates dispute the figure.

"The government can't give employment. It's the private sector that gives jobs. So these promises are just a means to collect the youth vote. Giving more value to the private sector is the only way to solve the job question," Abou Kane, Professor of Economics at Cheikh Anta Diop University, told Al Jazeera.

France, the West African country's former colonial ruler, maintains a large footprint in Senegal with French companies involved in everything from the security sector to the telecommunications industry.

The country's continuing influence on Senegal has become a hot topic in the run-up to the election.

Ousmane Sonko, who at 44 is the youngest candidate in the race, has said that commercial contracts awarded to French companies should be looked at again and renegotiated.

"The very quick surge of Sonko is linked to two things: First, his denunciation of corruption within the system. Second, his critique of France's presence, a decolonial critique of France itself. These are the two issues that have created Sonko. The ongoing presence of French colonialism here is important." Thiam said.

The stance has earned the former tax inspector-turned-whistleblower popularity among the country's youth, especially his promise to drop the country's existing currency.

Sonko has promised to create a domestic currency to replace the CFA Franc if elected.

The CFA Franc was introduced by France in 1945 and is used by 14 West African nations.

Pegged to the euro, the countries that use the CFA franc are forced to keep at least 50 percent of their foreign exchange reserves in an account at the French Central Bank.

President Sall, 57, is widely expected to win the poll after two of the country's most well-known opposition leaders were barred from contesting the election.

The former mayor of the capital, Khalifa Sall - who is not related to the president- is serving a five-year jail term on corruption charges.

Meanwhile, Karim Wade - son of the country's former leader Abdoulaye Wade - has gone into exile in Qatar after serving half of a six-year jail term for corruption.

Both deny the charges, which they say are politically motivated.

Besides, Sall and Sonko, three other candidates are also seeking the country's top seat.

Idrissa Seck, who served as prime minister between 2002 and 2004, is campaigning to be president after failing to win the 2007 and 2012 polls.

Issa Sall, an IT professor who founded a private university in Dakar, is also in the race. The Party of Unity and Assembly (PUR) candidate, 63, has strong backing from the Sufi Muslim Moustarchidine religious movement.

The oldest contestant in the race is 65-year-old Madicke Niang. The former foreign minister is seen as having the least chance of winning the presidency.
Voters in Senegal assemble to vote for the country's next president.