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Macky Sall’s coalition wins landslide in Senegal poll

Macky Sall

DAKAR (Reuters) – A coalition backing newly elected Senegalese President Macky Sall, won a landslide victory with 119 seats in a July 1 legislative election, provisional results announced by the west African nation’s election commission showed on Wednesday.

Macky Sall

Sall’s Benno Bokk Yakaar coalition won a controlling majority of the total 150 seats, while the former ruling Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) won 12 seats, Demba Kandji, president of the national electoral commission said.

A breakaway faction of PDS won four seats while other smaller political parties shared the remaining 15 seats, Kandji said.

Voter turnout was 36.67 percent of the more than 5 million registered voters.

The victory will enable Sall, 50, who won a presidential election against veteran leader Abdoulaye Wade in March, push promised economic reforms to boost employment and cut the cost of living for the poor.

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