Then Senegal Foreign Affairs Minister Amadou Ba attends a press conference at the Presidential Palace in Dakar on February 16, 2020. (PHOTO / AFP)

DAKAR - Senegal's Prime Minister Amadou Ba was designated Saturday as the ruling Benno Bokk Yakaar (BBY) coalition's candidate for next year's presidential election.

The candidacy was announced during a meeting of leaders of the BBY coalition.

The coalition is led by President Macky Sall's Alliance for the Republic party

The coalition is led by President Macky Sall's Alliance for the Republic party.

Elected president of Senegal in 2012 and re-elected in 2019, Sall announced in July his decision not to seek a third term.

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Ba, 62, had served as minister of economy and finance and minister of foreign affairs before being appointed prime minister in 2022.