As that plan unfolded it was becoming clearer that the technocratic Prime Minister Amadou Ba handpicked by Sall as a successor last September might not even make it into the top two in the first round of voting...

Both the Sonko/Faye team and the government camp represented by Prime Minister Amadou Ba are publicly hopeful of outright victory in the first ballot on 25 February...

Prime Minister Amadou Ba's status as the favourite has been strengthened by the confirmation of a defamation conviction against opposition leader Ousmane Sonko and the rejection of his application to stand in the presidential election (AC Vol 64 No 19 Sall's 'safe choice' hits turbulence)...

While Sonko's team wrestle with these bureaucratic and legal obstacles President Macky Sall's chosen successor the Prime Minister Amadou Ba presses ahead with his campaign exploiting official engagements to the full...

After President Macky Sall announced in July that he would not seek a third term 11 contenders for the presidential nomination of his Alliance Pour la République (APR) and the wider ruling Benno Bokk Yakaar (BBY) alliance came forward before the uncharismatic but competent Amadou Ba a former finance and foreign minister was chosen by Sall on 9 September...

With uncertainty over Ousmane Sonko's future the 2024 polls are shaping up to be a four-way battle between Seck Khalifa Sall Karim Wade and Prime Minister Amadou Ba who last week was anointed by outgoing President Sall as candidate for the ruling Benno Bokk Yakaar (BBY) party...

The governing Benno Bokk Yaakar alliance is now scrambling to choose a succession candidate with prime minister Amadou Ba the early favourite...

' Prime Minister Amadou Ba has promised an inquiry after video footage showed unidentified thugs chasing protesters alongside the police but this is unlikely to reassure Senegalese since the findings of previous investigations into alleged security force killings have not been published...

But new prime minister Amadou Ba has no margin for error...