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Voting in Senegal's presidential elections ended in calm on Sunday with only minor incidents of violence reported in Rufisque, some 40 km outside Dakar, and in the southern towns of Ziguinchor and Kolda, an observer told IRIN on Monday.
Observers said voter turnout was high among the 2.6 million voters in some 8,000 constituencies but exact figures for the turnout were not available. One observer, Alioune Tine, head of the Rencontre Africaine pour la defense des droits de l'homme (RADDHO), told IRIN that at least 73 percent voters received their ballot papers.
The first results are expected on Wednesday and final counting should end on Friday. Incumbent President Abdou Diouf is seeking a fourth term. He is challenged by a formidable array of seven veteran politicians.
Meanwhile, Tine said that thousands of Mauritanians, French,Germans, British and Senegalese had fled the country - mainly into neighbouring states - ahead of the voting in anticipation of violence.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
