{"id":10442,"date":"2019-02-25T08:37:32","date_gmt":"2019-02-25T00:37:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=10442"},"modified":"2019-02-25T08:37:34","modified_gmt":"2019-02-25T00:37:34","slug":"senegal-polls-closed-vote-counting-underway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=10442","title":{"rendered":"Senegal: polls closed, vote counting underway"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>DAKAR, Senegal, Feb 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8211; About 6.5 million Senegalese are registered to vote in Sunday\u2019s presidential election pitting incumbent president Macky Sall against four other aspirants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"fr\" dir=\"ltr\">&quot;Au terme de cette journ\u00e9e, le peuple s\u00e9n\u00e9galais sera le seul vainqueur&quot; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/nb0NMHV44l\">pic.twitter.com\/nb0NMHV44l<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Macky Sall (@Macky_Sall) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Macky_Sall\/status\/1099702410660990976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 24, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. (0800&nbsp;GMT) and close at 6 p.m, while official results are due out on Friday, with a run-off for the top two on March 24 if no one secures a majority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As part of the special election coverage, we will keep you posted with all the latest developments on election day in Senegal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Polls close<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Polls closed at 6pm local time as scheduled, after what was relatively an incident-free voting day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Vote counting is now underway at the polling units across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Official results are due out on Friday with a run-off for the top two on March 24 if no one secures a majority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4>EU raises early red flag<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>The European Union observer mission head, Helena Valentiana told journalists there was \u2018not enough control of inked fingers\u2019 in the first hours of voting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to&nbsp;BBC&nbsp;Afrique, Valentiana said it was too early to assess the conduct of the election across the country, she expressed concern that the lapse in control of inked fingers could lead to cases of multiple voting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Idrissa Seck casts his vote<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Former prime minister Idrissa Seck also reiterated calls for peace after casting his vote in his stronghold of Thies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMy prayers and wishes are that the elections take place peacefully, serenely and calmly and that the profound desire for change expressed by the people throughout this electoral campaign may not encounter any obstacle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The leader of the Rewmi (\u2018The Country\u2019) party is representing the Idy Coalition 2019 in this year\u2019s ballot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Sonko votes, also calls for peace<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>44-year-old Ousmane Sonko cast his vote in his stronghold city of Ziguinchor, urging his supporters to uphold peace throughout the electoral process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ziguinchor is the largest city in the southern Casamance region, which is rich in agricultural and mining resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At least one person was killed this month in clashes between Sall\u2019s backers and his opponents in the southeastern city of Tambacounda, but campaigning has been largely peaceful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur most precious raw material is peace,\u201d said Sonko after casting his vote<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Macky Sall votes<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"fr\" dir=\"ltr\">Chers S\u00e9n\u00e9galais, ce jour de scrutin est un moment important de la vie d\u00e9mocratique. C\u2019est l&#39;illustration de la souverainet\u00e9 populaire. Je vous exhorte \u00e0 accomplir votre devoir citoyen dans la paix et la s\u00e9r\u00e9nit\u00e9 pour d\u00e9cider de ce que nous ferons des cinq prochaines ann\u00e9es. MS <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/mHXm9uCAWl\">pic.twitter.com\/mHXm9uCAWl<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Macky Sall (@Macky_Sall) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Macky_Sall\/status\/1099616144141549568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 24, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>President Macky Sall cast his vote on Sunday morning, at a polling station in his hometown of Fatick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DAKAR, Senegal, Feb 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8211; About 6.5 million Senegalese are registered to vote in Sunday\u2019s presidential election pitting incumbent president Macky Sall against four other aspirants. Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. (0800&nbsp;GMT) and close at 6 p.m, while official results are due out on Friday, with a run-off for the top two on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":10444,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[213,296],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10442"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}