Voting in Senegal delayed following weeks of unrest

After some time of trouble in the government, people in Senegal are choosing a new leader. Seventeen people want to be the next president because the current president, Macky Sall, can’t run for reelection.

The election was supposed to happen last month but Mr. Sall delayed it, causing protests from the opposition and a crisis in the democratic process. Up until now, people have always said that Senegal is a strong example of democracy in West Africa.

Seven million people can vote in the election on Sunday.

One of the people running for the most important job in Senegal is Amadou Ba, a 62-year-old former Prime Minister and the candidate of the governing BBY coalition.

His biggest competition is Bassirou Diomaye Faye, 44. He was in jail for a long time until last week. He said the charges against him were not fair and were just because of politics.

Famous leader Ousmane Sonko, who was in jail until last week for false charges, cannot run for office. He and his old party Pastef are supporting his friend Mr. Faye

On Friday, Abdoulaye Wade and his PDS party supported Mr Faye, after his son Karim Wade had to quit because he had citizenship in both France and Senegal.

For the first time in more than ten years, a woman is running for a position. Anta Babacar Ngom, who is 40 years old, is in charge of the ARC party.

We will know the results in a few days and there will probably be another round because there are a lot of people competing. A candidate has to get more than half of the votes to win.

The whole world will be watching to see if the election can help repair Senegal’s damaged reputation.

Earlier this week, President Sall told the BBC that he doesn’t feel sorry for delaying the election. It was supposed to happen on 25 February.

“He said I didn’t do anything wrong and the decision to delay the vote wasn’t made by just one person, but because some members of parliament had concerns about the election. ”

“All the things we did were legal and followed the rules. “