World Tour: Political upset in Senegal

NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: World Tour with our reporter in Africa, Onize Ohikere.

AUDIO: [Singing protesters]

Senegal election — Today’s roundup starts in Senegal, where opposition contender Bassirou Diomaye Faye emerged as the country’s new president on Monday.

AUDIO: [Chanting supporters]

Official results are still pending, but former Prime Minister Amadou Ba, the ruling party’s candidate and the other top contender, conceded defeat.

FAYE: [Speaking French]

The 44-year-old Faye says here that he will work on national reconciliation, reducing the cost of living, and relaunching public policies.

Riots returned to the streets of Senegal after President Macky Sall announced he would delay the vote initially scheduled for February to the end of the year. Sall later announced the March election date, hoping to quell the growing unrest.

Sunday’s election also follows months of opposition protests and arrests. Faye was arrested last year on charges of defamation and contempt of court, which he denied. He was released from prison 10 days before the vote. He has attracted many young voters who are frustrated with the ruling class.

Fatou Kine Fall is a 32-year-old opposition youth campaigner.

FALL: [Speaking French]

She says here that she showed up to vote for all those who died in the protests.

More than seven million voters registered to vote in the election largely praised as peaceful.

Nigeria kidnappings— In Nigeria, local officials in central Kaduna state on Monday welcomed more than 130 school children who were kidnapped two weeks ago.

Authorities said the children were picked up in Zamfara state, more than 120 miles away from their school.

Kaduna state Gov. Uba Sani said the children are receiving medical and psychological care.

School authorities initially reported the kidnappers took 287 students. But Gov. Sani disputed that count. He says here that the children said 138 were abducted.

SANI: And they also admitted to me that 137 are here, back. Only one person was lost.

Nigeria has seen a wave of abductions in recent weeks. No group claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, but locals have blamed bandits known for mass abductions for ransom.

Earlier on Friday, Nigerian authorities reported the return of 17 students also taken from their school in northwest Sokoto state two weeks earlier.

Ecuador death — Over in Ecuador, authorities are investigating after the country’s youngest mayor was found murdered.

Police found 27-year-old Brigitte Garcia and her communications officer inside her car.

Both of them were shot dead, says Emerson Ubidia. He’s the Manabi provincial police commander.

UBIDIA: [Speaking Spanish]

He says here that the police received an alert from their relatives that they were missing.

Several other political officials have been killed or threatened since last year. Ecuador has been under a state of emergency since January.

AUDIO: [Applause]

Venezuela opposition — We end today in Venezuela, where an 80-year-old college professor is expected to step in as the opposition’s presidential candidate.

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado chose Corina Yoris as her stand-in after Venezuela’s top court barred her from holding public office. That’s after Machado scored a landslide victory in the opposition’s primary vote.

But Yoris said the website of the National Electoral Council has blocked her attempts to register as a candidate.

YORIS: [Speaking Spanish]

She says here that the opposition has exhausted all attempts to resolve the problem as she called for an extension.

Yoris has never held public office. If she is allowed to run in the July vote, Yoris will face incumbent President Nicolas Maduro.

That’s it for today’s WORLD Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

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