Senegalese Opposition Enters Final Days of Election Boycott
May 29, 2007
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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