Senegal's fast-paced presidential campaign ends on Friday, with candidates facing an unprecedented test of endurance by running for high office during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
For the first time in the Muslim-majority West African country, presidential candidates had to refrain from eating and drinking as they crisscrossed the country to win support from voters.
“Like everyone else, we are hungry, thirsty and struggling to adapt to the scorching heat,” said Idrissa Seck, one of 17 candidates in Sunday's election. said.
The 64-year-old opposition politician, who is running for his fourth presidential election, was greeting supporters from a motorcade in the capital Dakar.
But the atmosphere was subdued, with some in the crowd clearly exhausted after following the line just a few meters.
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“I have supported Idrissa Sek since 1988, but I have never campaigned during Ramadan,” said Anta Naar, a member of the campaign team wearing orange, the party's colors.・Fall said.
“It's very hard and you can't adapt. You have to be athletic to be as hungry and thirsty as you are to run,” she added.
More than 90 percent of Senegal's population and all presidential candidates are Muslim.
During the month of Ramadan, one of the five pillars of Islam, Muslims must not eat, drink, smoke or have sexual relations from dawn to dusk.
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This is the first time that an election campaign will be held during a holy month in Senegal.
The traditionally stable country was plunged into one of its worst political crises in decades last month after President Macky Sall postponed a vote originally scheduled for February 25.
After a month of uncertainty that caused deadly unrest, Sall finally set the date for March 24 after pressure from the country's highest constitutional body.
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Due to last-minute measures, the election period was significantly shortened to just over two weeks, one week shorter than the period stipulated by election law.
Candidates were busy recalibrating their strategies to fit accelerated timelines.
But during Ramadan, the task was far from easy.
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“What they did to us is not right. To force a campaign on us (during Ramadan)…” said Khalifa Ababakar Sall, a 68-year-old hopeful.
“First of all, we don't even know how to campaign. People wake up late and during the day they are busy preparing to break their fast.
“At night, they offer prayers and have to go to bed early to eat 'shu' (last meal before dawn). It's complicated,” he added.
In the central city of Diurbel, where candidates from the ruling coalition held a rally on Tuesday, an AFP reporter saw people hurrying home to break their fast after 5pm.
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In addition to hunger, thirst and logistical challenges, presidential candidates also had to contend with rising temperatures, especially in the interior.
Senegal has been in a heatwave for several days, with temperatures reaching up to 45 degrees Celsius, the national meteorological agency said.
Many instances of exhaustion were reported on social media during the election period.
In an attempt to defuse the situation, 31-year-old Momar Ahsan Diouf and his friends, all supporters of opposition candidate Bashir Diomai Fay, decided to distribute iftar food at the end of the election rally.
The group, wearing Senegalese football shirts and party colors, handed out coffee, grain fritters and leaflets summarizing their chosen candidate's manifesto after a rally on the outskirts of Dakar.
“It's working really well. By distributing the kits, we're able to get people's attention and talk about (Fay's) campaign,” he said.
