Former Senegal PM concedes defeat in presidential election
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00:00 Former Prime Minister of Senegal, Amadou Ba, has conceded defeat in the first round of the
00:05 general election and congratulated his opponent, Bassirou Fay. Now official results have not yet
00:12 been made public but that concession by Ba does mean that Fay is likely to be on course for power.
00:20 It is then a huge moment for Senegal this afternoon and let's cross straight to Dakar,
00:26 the Senegalese capital, get the very latest from our correspondent Sam Bradpeace. Sam,
00:31 what can you tell us this hour? Well this concession from Bassirou, from Amadou Ba,
00:38 the former Prime Minister, does really seem to be just another piece of evidence suggesting that
00:44 the opposition figure Bassirou Joumaifay has won with an absolute majority the first round of the
00:51 Senegalese presidential election. Big caveat, the official final results haven't come out yet,
00:58 we're expecting those on Friday at midnight at the latest but as I said this concession does
01:04 certainly point in that direction. Should Mr Bassirou Joumaifay take the Senegalese presidency
01:12 in the first round of the election it really would be remarkable, he'd be the youngest
01:17 president in Senegalese history. His supporters have been celebrating since Sunday night,
01:24 Amadou Ba, the former Prime Minister, Macky Sall's ally and chosen successor, isn't the first
01:31 presidential candidate to congratulate Mr Fay on what looks like a pretty crushing victory
01:38 but certainly his voice is important as a kind of sign of things to come. Well let's talk a bit then
01:46 about Fay, as you say we don't have the official confirmation yet that he is to be Senegal's
01:52 next leader but there are suggestions given the concession of the opposition candidate that he
01:58 could well be so we need to know about him. He ran as an anti-establishment candidate didn't he,
02:05 how would you characterise him and his politics? Yeah I mean he was certainly the most radical of
02:11 all the candidates going into this presidential election. One of his flagship policies involves
02:18 withdrawing Senegal from the CFA franc, that's a currency used throughout West Africa, it's a
02:25 colonial era currency which Bassirou Joumaifay argues was essentially implemented in the first
02:31 place to benefit France rather than the Senegalese people. That's a policy which is certainly popular
02:39 among some sections of the electorate but which others on the presidential campaign trail have
02:46 consistently argued against, warning that it would deter foreign direct investment in Senegal
02:51 which they argue is something that the country needs. He's definitely a sovereignist candidate,
02:59 some might go as far as to say a populist candidate but what we do know about him is that
03:04 he's certainly a very popular candidate and that his message really resonated with the country's
03:10 youth, it is a very young population and Bassirou Joumaifay managed to capture some of the energy
03:16 and some of the resentment felt towards Macky Sall's presidency. So as I said still waiting
03:24 for official confirmation that he will be the next president of Senegal but things certainly looking
03:29 that way he's certainly a radical figure who has the potential to change the kind of geopolitical
03:35 landscape of Senegal and West Africa more widely in years to come.