Senegal’s President Macky Sall on Saturday named Prime Minister Amadou Ba as the presidential candidate for the ruling Benno Bokk Yakaar (BBY) coalition.

Ba, a former economy minister who had also held the position of foreign minister, is a 62-year old taxation specialist who was appointed prime minister in September last year.

Sall ruled out running for a third term in July after violent unrest in the West African country, throwing wide open the race to succeed him.

Members of the BBY coalition, seeking to avoid protracted primaries just a few months before the deadline to submit candidates, had given Sall the green light to name a candidate.

(Reporting by Diadie Ba and Ngouda Dione; Writing by Bate Felix; Editing by Alexander Smith)