Ekip
24 February 2019•Update: 24 February 2019
By Alpha Kamara
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone
Senegalese on Sunday headed to polls across the West African country to elect a new president.
Over 6 million citizens are eligible to cast vote in the country’s 11th presidential election.
Five candidates, including the incumbent President Macky Sall, are vying for the presidency with different manifestoes.
Sall plans to move to the next phase of his Emerging Senegal Plan and wants a second term.
His manifesto is based on the revival of public expenditure, especially major projects including the construction of more public structures and increase agricultural production to attract export of competitive products and services.
Sall has been credited for constructing the new city of Diamniadio with a new international airport that attracts millions of tourists every year.
But he is criticized for jailing key political aspirants, including Kalifa Sall and Karim Wade, son of former President Adbulaye Wade.
Ousmane Sonko, a former tax inspector and leader of the opposition patriots movement, is advocating for economic freedom and independence.
His plan is to cut ties with the West particularly France, the country’s colonial master whom he accused of grabbing raw materials. Sonko says his dream is to replace the CFA franc with a local currency.
Former Prime Minister Idrissa Seck is running for the third time with a vision of governance, economy and security.
Seck, an economist, said the country’s economy requires universal access to electricity by 2029.
Former Minister of Justice Madicke Niang is running under the PDS party of former president Wade.
The trained lawyer wants to significantly reduce the high cost of living and renegotiate oil and gas contracts.
El Hadji Issa Sall wants to make English and computer sciences taught from kindergarten level.
The leader of the Unity and Rally Party (Pur) defends a “Pur 100” program that places man at the beginning, center and end of everything.
His network focuses on religion to restore community values.
