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AFP
More Senegalese opposition figures said on Saturday they would throw their support behind candidate Macky Sall in his bid to oust long-ruling President Abdoulaye Wade this month.

The president -- aged 85 and in power for 12 years -- is seeking a third term in a move that has triggered weeks of sometimes deadly protests in Senegal, a country long seen as a beacon of democracy in west Africa.

Sall, a former prime minister who trailed Wade in a first-round vote last month, this week won the backing of the third-placed candidate and has now also gained the support of the men who came fourth and fifth.

Sall, 50, has also won the influential support of homegrown music icon Youssou Ndour in his bid to thwart the sit-tight leader.

The fourth-placed candidate from the first round election, Socialist Party leader Ousmane Tanor Dieng, said he would back Sall in the vote on either March 18 or 25, according to a report in the Le Soleil daily.

"We're going to campaign together because we share common beliefs... We will work together to ensure that the charter of good democratic governance is applied. And we will also govern together," he was quoted as saying.

Former premier Idrissa Seck, who came in fifth in the first round on February 26, also voiced his backing for Sall, saying he would give his unconditional support to the best-paced opposition candidate.

Moustapha Niasse, another former prime minister and the third-placed candidate to emerge from the first round, has previously voiced his support for Sall, as has the opposition June 23 Movement (M23).

M23 -- which counts Sall, Niasse, Dieng and Seck among its members -- has called a gathering on Saturday in Dakar in memory of six people killed in rioting ahead of the first round vote.

Wade garnered 34.8 percent of the vote in the first round, Sall won 26.5 percent, while Niasse trailed with 13.2 percent.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Thursday called for "civic responsibility and democratic commitment" in Senegal ahead of the second round.