Senegal’s 2024 election: Why does it matter?
Al Jazeera
After election delay and weeks of protests, 19 candidates are competing on Sunday to succeed President Macky Sall.
Senegal is gearing up for elections – something that was far from certain just a month ago.
More than seven million people in the West African nation are registered to vote on Sunday to pick a successor to President Macky Sall, who has been in power for 12 years.
Vying for the country’s top job, 19 candidates have been campaigning for the last two weeks in a tight electoral race. For the first time since Senegal gained independence in the 1960s, none of the candidates is a sitting president.
While no clear frontrunner has emerged, analysts have said that the very fact that elections are taking place comes as a relief to many.
The lead-up to Sunday’s vote has been marred by a fair share of political drama. Originally scheduled to take place on February 25, incumbent Sall plunged the country into chaos last month when he announced he was delaying the vote to December.
