Lopsided Senegal election heralds pro-Wade walkover
May 31, 2007 | Leave a Comment
By Diadie Ba
Reuters
Thursday, May 31, 2007; 9:40 AM
DAKAR (Reuters) – "The Old Man is strong!" is a favorite chant of supporters of Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, whose rule over the West African state looks set to become stronger still in parliamentary polls on Sunday.
An opposition boycott of the polls will leave the field clear for a sweeping victory by the octogenarian president’s Sopi coalition, whose name means "change."
But the one-sided polls, coming three months after Wade won a surprisingly easy re-election in a presidential ballot rejected as flawed by opponents, threaten to take the gloss off Senegal’s carefully nurtured image as a model working democracy.
A dozen opposition groups led by Senegal’s Socialist Party (PS) announced last month they would boycott Sunday’s ballot, accusing Wade’s Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) of buying votes and doctoring the electoral roll in February’s poll.
While the critics have failed to provide proof of widespread fraud, they say Wade used state funds and the PDS party machine to steamroller his way to victory with 56 percent of the votes.
This has left the ageing but feisty president, who has bluntly refused to discuss the electoral issues with opponents, looking more like one of Africa traditional "Big Men" rulers than the world-class democratic statesman he aspires to be.
"It is like a struggle between a heavyweight against a lightweight," Alioune Tine of the Dakar-based African human rights group RADDHO said of Sunday’s lopsided elections.
Wade’s Sopi coalition already controlled 89 seats in the previous 120-member parliament and seem certain to extend this in the new assembly, expanded earlier this year to 150 seats.
Many see the opposition boycott as a pointless political suicide which will remove any check to Wade, who has already been criticized for harassing political foes and media critics with temporary detentions.
"People used to say that other countries should follow the democratic example of Senegal but now everybody is saying avoid the Senegalese example," Tine said.
NOT TACKLING POVERTY
Nevertheless, Senegal remains a beacon of peace and stability in an otherwise troubled region. The former French colony, most of whose inhabitants live through farming and fishing, has never had a coup since independence in 1960.
But Wade, whose first election in 2000 ended four decades of Socialist rule and who is well regarded by foreign investors, has faced criticism for not doing enough to end poverty, unemployment and frustration among young Senegalese.
Thousands have risked their lives trying to reach Spain in rickety open boats in a bid to start a new life in Europe.
Since the opposition boycott makes victory for Wade’s coalition a foregone conclusion on Sunday, campaigning for the vote has been lackluster, with little popular enthusiasm.
"They (the opposition) should have taken part in the elections, to be in the parliament and raise their voice there. But now they will be just like any normal citizens which is not very productive," said Dakar University student Sidiya Diop.
But opposition leaders are hoping high voter abstention will dent Wade’s democratic credentials at home and abroad.
"Senegalese should take the opportunity to show to Wade they reject his economic policy and his refusal to hold a dialogue," said Ousmane Tanor Dieng, the Socialist Party chief who came third in February’s presidential election.
Facing 13 insignificant parties in Sunday’s poll, Wadi’s Sopi coalition says it is confident in can obtain a good turnout at the polls, which were originally due in June 2006 but have been twice delayed.
Senegalese Opposition Enters Final Days of Election Boycott
May 29, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Dakar 29 May 2007 |
In The opposition coalition called "Front for the Restoration of Despite the opposition’s efforts to delay the vote, through a court One of the coalition’s leaders, Moustapha Fall, says his group’s campaign to keep voters away from the polls is working. He says the fact that only one-third of the military voted, this About 80 percent of the military and security forces voted in the presidential election. But election observers and members of the president’s coalition say Senegalese writer Mody Niang, who has written critical books about The Niang says the boycott has actually worked in President Wade’s For the past eight years, Paul Ndong has been the mayor of Joal-Fadiouth, a fishing village 100 kilometers from the capital. He says he was born into the Socialist Party and has been a committed Socialist his entire life until two months ago. He went through what he calls a personal political upheaval and Ndong says he was not personally informed about the boycott. He says The mayor says the opposition could have won many of the 150 elected positions. But the long-Socialist mayor says he is now faithful to the president’s coalition. In the streets of the capital, this taxi driver says he does not He says taxi drivers tend to like how the president is trying to fix Dakar’s congested roads.
Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade greets crowd at the Independence Day parade (File)
Senegal, more than a dozen opposition political groups enter the final
days of their boycott against this coming Sunday’s legislative
election. They point to this past weekend’s low turnout for the
military as proof the boycott is working. But some say the boycott is a
losing battle and are deserting the opposition to join the ruling
party. Phuong Tran has more from Dakar.
Senegal" continues its call for a nationwide legislative election
boycott because of what its leaders call widespread fraud during the
presidential election, earlier this year, when President Wade won
almost 56 percent of the vote.
ruling, the already-twice-delayed legislative election is scheduled to
take place this Sunday.
past weekend, shows how voters agree with the boycott. He says the
higher military turnout for the presidential election shows the boycott
has had an effect.
legislative elections typically attract less attention than
presidential ones and that the military and security forces are voting
separately for the first time and cannot be used as a gauge for the
nationwide vote.
the president that he says are banned in Senegal, says the president’s
coalition is trying to prove it has voters’ support, despite the
boycott.
Observers say election was fair
writer says President Wade has been fighting a possible drop in voter
turnout by going to the countryside and treating villagers to
extravagant feasts of chicken, sheep and beef. He says the ruling party
plans to bus voters to the polls.
favor, in one way: opposition members who do not want to wait five
years until the next election to have a voice in the government are
joining the president’s coalition.
joined the president’s ruling coalition, the Democratic Party of
Senegal.
he learned about it from watching the news and does not understand why
the opposition is boycotting and that he does not agree.
know about the boycott. He says he plans to drive his taxi 200
kilometers to his home village, in the northern Louga Province, to vote
for President Wade’s party.
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Another blow for Senegal opposition
May 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment
afrol News, 24 May – It
was yet another striking blow for the Senegalese opposition yesterday
when the Council of State legalised the distribution of lawmakers in
the country, a move vehemently challenged by the opposition Parti
Socialiste (PS).
Until it was dislodged
from power by President Abdoulaye Wade’s ruling PDS in 2000, PS had
been ruling Senegal since independence in 1960. The party captured
third in the last Presidential polls.
Unsatisfied with the overruling of a decree on the distribution of
parliamentary seats per department ahead of the 3 June legislative
polls, angry PS officials filed an appeal, describing the act as
"unconsitutional."
In its petition, PS blamed President Wade for being unfair in
demarcating the country’s 36 districts. The party faulted the
demarcation, arguing that it has favoured the ruling party.
Senegalese government had earlier raised the number of legislative
seats from 120 to 150 earlier this year. This led to the postponement
of the legislative polls, resulting to a bitter confrontation between
striking opposition and police in last January.
Senegalese electoral commission would have been legally mandated to
postpone the 3 June elections had the council ruled in favour of the
opposition.
The council had earlier responded positively to the party’s queries
against the distribution of parliamentary seats. However, the
constitutional court would not agree with PS on its appeal on the
demography issue.
PS is among 15 opposition parties that insisted that unless they hold
talks with President Wade concerning the numerous irregularities in the
February Presidential poll, they would resort to a boycott.
Following President Wade’s refusal to give them audience, the 15
parties did not only boycott the polls, but they have since then been
asking their Senegalese in general to avoid being part of what they
call “assassination of democracy.”
The 25 February polls had been endorsed as free, fair and transparent
by international observers. And the opposition’s attempts to annul the
results also bite the dust.
Despite a boycott by major opposition parties, 15 political parties and
coalitions will be battling for Senegal’s 150 legislative seats.
By staff writer
© afrol News
