Senegal President Wade admits defeat

DAKAR - Segenal's President Abdoulaye Wade has admitted defeat in the presidential run-off held on Sunday, and called his rival former Prime Minister Macky Sall to congratulate him over his victory, state media said late Sunday.

Wade was beaten as vote results showed Sall is leading by big margin against him, according to local radio stations.

According to the preliminary results, Sall won 69 percent of votes against Wade with 30.84 percent. A total of 5,080,294 Senegalese nationals are registered as voters on the country's electoral lists.  

Supporters of Sall are celebrating in streets of the capital, singing and dancing.

Macky Sall, 51, served Wade's administration as prime minister from 2004 to 2007. After the publication of the definitive results of the first round, he has obtained the support of the other 12 candidates who failed to enter the second round, and the support of some the civil organizations and opposition groups.

Having been discovered on the eve of 2000 political changes in Senegal, Sall was one of the young people who worked with Wade in the opposition. He achieved a rapid rise within the Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS), a party he joined in 1989.

After having helped Wade to be re-elected during the 2007 presidential elections in which he served as Wade's campaign director, Sall was dropped from the prime minister's post. As a way to compensate him, Sall was named as the Speaker of parliament, although he did not last in this position for long.