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The electoral observer missions of the African Union and West African regional bloc ECOWAS both expressed satisfaction with Senegal’s presidential election.

At a debriefing of heads of international election observation missions on Tuesday, both missions said the overall voting process was “peaceful, satisfactory and conducted in a transparent and credible atmosphere”.

They did note some issues over “a few rejected ballots” within some polling stations, but said there was a consensus that the elections had been held in a peaceful, credible and fair manner.

Opposition candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye is poised to become the West African country’s next leader as he has a strong lead over the ruling coalition’s candidate Amadou Ba based on provisional results.

Ba already called Faye to concede defeat, with most of the other presidential candidates also following suit.

President Macky Sall also called Faye to congratulate him, terming his victory as a win for the people of Senegal.

The election marks a major turning point for Senegal, a country seen as one of Africa’s most stable electoral democracies but was plunged into political uncertainty and violence after Sall postponed the election in February.