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Bloomberg
Senegal holds municipal elections that will serve as a gauge of support for President Macky Sall and his ruling coalition.
The Benno Bokk Yakaar coalition, which comprises Sall’s Alliance for the Republic, the Socialist Party and the Alliance of Forces for Progress, currently holds most of the 552 municipal seats and 125 of the 160 seats in parliament. One of its key goals will be to regain control of Dakar, the capital, which the opposition has run since 2009, and it is fielding Health Minister Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr as its mayoral candidate.
While the fractured opposition faces an uphill battle to challenge the BBY coalition’s dominance, disgruntlement about the economic hardship wrought by the coronavirus and perceptions of corruption in Sall’s administration are widespread.
The anti-government sentiment was evident last year when the arrest of popular opposition leader Ousmane Sonko on rape allegations triggered violent protests.