Macky Sall wins second term as Senegal’s president

By Alpha Kamara

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone

President Macky Sall won a second term as the leader of Senegal, an electoral official announced on Thursday.

Sall was re-elected for the next five years with the 58.27 percent of the votes, said Demba Kanji, the head of the National Committee of Census and Voting, in the capital Dakar.

The closest rival of Sall, Idrissa Seck gained 20.50 percent of the votes, while Ousmane Sonko got 15.67 percent.

The voter turnout was 66.25 percent with over six million Senegalese casting their votes in Sunday’s election, Kanji said.

Meanwhile, thousands of Sall’s Alliance for Republic Party supporters are jubilating across the country.

In a constitutional referendum in March 2016, the presidential term was shortened from seven years to five.