Senegal’s ruling party candidate ended election better than Donald Trump

In a bastion of democracy, comes a peaceful end to a presidential election and the candidate defeated by the opposition congratulates the winner.

Senegal 2024, not America 2020.

In Senegal, the ruling coalition’s candidate, Amadou Ba, rang his main challenger Bassirou Diomaye Faye to concede that he had lost.

That’s more than Donald Trump did in 2020 and more than what Mr Trump threatens to do in November 2024.

President Macky Sall, who handpicked Mr Ba as candidate, also congratulated Mr Faye on social media, calling his triumph a “victory for Senegalese democracy”.

Senegal could be a useful template for many countries, not least America.

For, it could all have gone hideously wrong. Senegal suffered several weeks of political uncertainty after Mr Sall tried to delay the election until year-end and legislators tried to amend the constitution to extend the term-limited president’s tenure by at least 10 months. But Senegal’s highest court ruled any such extension illegal.

In the end, it all went smoothly.

Mr Ba was President Sall’s prime minister before stepping down to campaign. Mr Faye, who has no previous experience in government, emerged from 11 months in prison just 10 days before the election.

Senegal, one of Africa’s major investment destinations and a nascent oil and gas producer, is in a politically volatile region. West and central Africa has seen eight coups since 2020, not least Gabon, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Chad.