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Senegal's Abdoulaye Wade accepts election run-off | |
(about 6 hours later) | |
Senegal's leader Abdoulaye Wade has admitted that he will now have to face a run-off after failing to win more than 50% in the first round of voting. | |
"The numbers are clear, we are headed to a second round," his spokesman Amadou Sall said. | |
Unofficial results show Mr Wade, 85, is likely to face former Prime Minister Macky Sall in the run-off. | |
Mr Wade's bid for a third term has sparked weeks of violent protests, leading to about six deaths. | |
Polling day itself was largely peaceful. | |
Opening talks | |
Earlier unofficial results - with more than half of the vote counted - gave Mr Wade 32%, with his closest rival Mr Sall on 25%. | |
Until late on Monday, Mr Wade had been confident that he would be able to get enough votes to win an outright victory in his contentious bid for a third term. | |
"To all of my supporters, my allies, my sympathisers, I ask that you remain mobilised," Mr Wade read from a prepared statement as he met reporters for the first time since the elections. | "To all of my supporters, my allies, my sympathisers, I ask that you remain mobilised," Mr Wade read from a prepared statement as he met reporters for the first time since the elections. |
"At this very hour... everything is still possible - victory or a run-off," he said. | "At this very hour... everything is still possible - victory or a run-off," he said. |
The BBC's Umaru Fofana in Dakar says the president also said that he would be opening talks with opposition candidates ahead of the second round - due on 18 March. | |
The president, 85, was booed as he cast his vote on Sunday in the capital, Dakar - and he lost in his own constituency in the middle-class Dakar neighbourhood of Point E, Senegal's national APS news agency reports. | |
Analysts said Mr Wade would struggle in the second round, when the field narrows to two candidates. | Analysts said Mr Wade would struggle in the second round, when the field narrows to two candidates. |
Macky Sall, who is running for the first time, told the BBC that it would be "easy" to win in the second round, as he said all opposition candidates had agreed to unite. | |
The electoral commission has yet to publish any provisional results, which are being announced by local media as they trickle in from polling stations. | The electoral commission has yet to publish any provisional results, which are being announced by local media as they trickle in from polling stations. |
Senegal's constitutional court ruled that Mr Wade could stand again on the grounds that his first term had not counted since it began before the two-term limit was introduced in 2001. | Senegal's constitutional court ruled that Mr Wade could stand again on the grounds that his first term had not counted since it began before the two-term limit was introduced in 2001. |
Senegal, a former French colony, is seen as a stable democracy with an unbroken series of elections since independence in 1960. | Senegal, a former French colony, is seen as a stable democracy with an unbroken series of elections since independence in 1960. |
It remains the only West African country where the army has never seized power. | It remains the only West African country where the army has never seized power. |