Senegal’s former Prime Minister Amadou Ba has congratulated rival opposition candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye for winning the presidential election.

Results trickling in since polls closed on Sunday evening in the first round of a delayed presidential election have suggested the 44-year-old Faye might have clinched an outright majority.

The people have trooped out to the streets in the capital, Dakar, for wild celebrations seeing the development as the expected end to President Macky Sall’s reign.

Ruling coalition candidate Ba, 62, initially called these celebrations premature and said a run-off vote would be needed to determine the winner.

But he then called Faye on Monday to offer his congratulations, according to a statement from the government spokesman.

“In light of presidential election result trends and while we await the official proclamation, I congratulate … Faye for his victory in the first round,” Ba said in a statement.

Senegal’s outgoing Leader, Sall also congratulated opposition candidate Faye as his successor on Monday, hailing “a victory for Senegalese democracy.”

Sall, who did not stand after wins in 2012 and 2019, said he “salutes the smooth running of the election” and “congratulates the winner, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who the poll trends show as winning.”

Several opposition contenders had also conceded defeat to Faye during the night, including Anta Babacar Ngom, the only woman running.

The elections which drove millions to the polls will make Faye the West African country’s fifth president.

The polls followed three years of political turbulence that sparked violent anti-government protests and buoyed support for the opposition.

Ba was the candidate backed by Sall, who is stepping down amid a drop in popularity after two terms in office marred by economic hardship.

Faye was thrust into the centre of Senegalese politics more than a week after he was released from prison along with his mentor Ousmane Sonko, who was disqualified from standing in the election because of a defamation conviction.

He has not spoken publicly since he cast his vote. He owes much of his success to the backing of Sonko.

Faye and Sonko, two former tax inspectors, have campaigned together under the slogan “Diomaye is Sonko”, promising to fight corruption and prioritise national economic interests.