Presidential elections were held in Senegal on 24 February 2019.Opposition leaders Khalifa Sall and Karim Wade barred from Senegal's presidential race France 24, 14 January 2019 Incumbent president Macky Sall of the Alliance for the Republic was re-elected for a second term with 58% of the vote in the first round.
Electoral system The President of Senegal is elected using the two-round system; a candidate must receive over 50% of the vote to be elected in the first round. If no candidate had crossed the threshold, a second round would have been held between the top two candidates.Elections in Senegal: The February 26 Presidential Election: Frequently Asked Questions IFES
Prior to the elections, the electoral law was amended to introduce requirements for candidates to secure signatures from at least 0.8% of the registered electorate, and for at least 2,000 signatures from seven of the 14 regions. Voters were only allowed to give a signature to one candidate.Sénégal – Présidentielle 2019: le système de parrainage des candidatures, une nouvelle donne Benin Web TV, 24 November 2018
Candidates Although 87 candidates registered intent to collect signatures,présidentielle de 2019 : 87 ! une si longue liste de candidats Vibe Radio only around 20 applied to the Constitutional Council to participate in the election, with the requirement for signatures and the introduction of a 30 million franc bond thought to have put many potential candidates off.Présidentielle 2019: 20 candidats enregistrés Rewmi Five candidates were approved to run in the elections; , , Macky Sall, Idrissa Seck and Ousmane Sonko.
In January 2019, two opposition leaders Khalifa Sall and Karim Wade were barred from participating due to previous convictions for misuse of public funds.Senegal court bars 2 opposition leaders from presidential vote Eyewitness News, 14 January 2019
Results On 25 February 2019, Prime Minister Mahammed Dionne said that Sall had been re-elected with "a minimum of 57%" of the vote, enough to avoid a runoff election. He also said Sall had won in 13 of the country's 14 regions.Incumbent Macky Sall wins Senegal presidential election: PM Al Jazeera, 26 February 2019 On 5 March 2019, the Constitutional Council confirmed the election results.
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