DAKAR: Senegal's veteran leader Abdoulaye Wade has little chance of a first-round poll win in his bid to remain president into his 90s, Western observers said Tuesday, urging calm in the wait for final results.
Sunday's election has been fraught over Wade's candidacy for a third term in office which sparked a month of deadly riots that left six dead and marred the west African nation's reputation as a bastion of stability.
Both the European Union and United States observer teams said the country was headed for a run-off vote.
"There will very likely be a second round. Any other outcome seems statistically impossible after what we know and hear," European Union observer mission chief Thijs Berman told journalists.
However his team warned the lack of a final result two days after the poll only served to "fuel tension and suspicion."
The United States' top Africa diplomat Johnnie Carson said "early results indicate that a second round of voting is highly likely".
"We call upon all political party leaders and their supporters to follow the rule of law and respect the results," Carson added.
The African Union observer team urged political leaders and their supporters to "accept the outcome of the elections".
Early results show Wade has won less than a third of the votes counted so far -- albeit with a clear lead over his nearest rival.
The incumbent, who had promised a crushing first round victory, held out hope as he addressed the nation Monday night, saying "everything is possible, victory or a second round of voting."
Meanwhile the opposition savoured its strong showing after weeks of violent protests in a bid to pressure Wade to retire.
"Wade, its over," headlined L'Observateur opposition newspaper, calling the incumbent's address to the nation on Monday night his "swansong".
The leader is seeking a new seven-year term which would put him in office into his 90s after circumventing a two-term limit he introduced into the constitution.
He says changes extending term lengths from five to seven years made in 2008 allow him a fresh mandate. The country's highest court upheld his argument, sparking a month of riots that sparked international concern.
Early results show a tight race between Wade and his former protege, ex-prime minister Macky Sall, 50, who called the results a "massive rejection of the outgoing president."
The mayor of the western city of Fatick fell out of favour in 2008 with Wade, his former mentor, under whom he had held several ministerial portfolios and also served as prime minister.
In his television address, Wade said he would rise to the challenge of a second round, evoking the possibility of alliances to assure a final victory.
The vote passed off without any major incident and all sides are being urged to ensure the situation remains peaceful.
United Nations special representative in west Africa Said Djinnit urged the population to "show restraint until the end of the electoral process."
Wade, who is Africa's oldest leader after Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, 88, was first elected in 2000 on a wave of euphoria and his supporters praise him for overseeing a development boom.
However he was roundly booed as he cast his ballot and was trounced in his home polling station -- a sign of how his popularity has plunged amid efforts to cling to power and line up his unpopular son Karim to succeed him.
He is also accused of focusing on prestige projects and being out of touch with the needs of the people, battling high unemployment and crippling power cuts.
Both France and the United States urged him to retire as protests swept the nation, with angry youths clashing with police on a near-daily basis in the seaside capital.
However Wade dismissed the opposition against him as "temper tantrums" and heaped scorn on his former allies, saying he refused to be dictated to.
The former French colony of some 13 million people is one of the continent's pioneer democracies, boasting an unbroken series of elections since independence in 1960. Unlike many of its troubled neighbours it has never suffered a coup.
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