What’s next for Senegal under likely President Bassirou Diomaye Faye?

Faye promises to review the West African nation’s mining contracts and ties with key nations.

Bassirou Diomaye Faye, a previously little-known tax inspector freed from jail two weeks ago, looks likely to become Senegal’s next president after a vote that observers say is proof of the country’s democratic resilience.

While the electoral commission is expected to announce final results in the coming days, early tallies showed Faye winning an outright majority in Sunday’s election. His main rival, ruling party candidate Amadou Ba, conceded defeat late on Monday. And outgoing President Macky Sall congratulated the 44-year-old on the results. “This is the victory of Senegalese democracy,” Sall said.

The election, originally scheduled for February, was delayed by Sall, sparking speculation that he was contemplating extending his rule — he has completed two terms and is barred from a third under the constitution — before he eventually agreed to the vote on Sunday.

Senegal has a history of peaceful transitions of power since its independence in the 1960s, Hawa Ba, associate director of the Open Society Foundation, said on Monday. “But yesterday was more important as people wanted to turn a page of Senegal’s political history.”

Now Faye has a nation’s expectations to deliver on.