Senegal defends low poll turnout ‘normal’
June 4, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Senegal on Monday defended the low poll turnout used by critics to put a question mark on the legitimacy of weekend legislative elections, saying the west African nation had never had enthusiastic voters.
"The turnout rate is 38 percent," Macoumba Koume, director of communication in the interior ministry, told AFP.
"This low turnout rate in legislative elections is not new in Senegal," he said. "In general terms, the presidential elections attract a higher turnout."
A 17-party opposition grouping had called for an unprecedented boycott of Sunday’s ballot, which looks set to be won by President Abdoulaye Wade’s ruling party.
AFP correspondents and local media reported that polling stations were far emptier than for February presidential elections that gave Wade his second term and for the last parliamentary elections in 2001, when slightly over two-thirds of voters cast ballots.
The governing Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) looks set to win a new governing mandate with its coalition partners and the 81-year-old Wade dismissed the apparent success of the boycott.
Senegalese voters turned out in droves in the 2001 presidential elections, which were marked by a 67.4 percent turnout. The polls put Wade, an opposition figure, in power after former president Abdou Diouf’s two-decade rule.
Most heavyweight opposition figures were absent from the ballot papers, including former prime minister Idrissa Seck and Ousmane Tanor Dieng of the former ruling Socialist Party, who came second and third respectively in the presidential elections.
There were still some 4,000 candidates who vied for the 150 seats in the new and enlarged national assembly.
Wade’s PDS enjoyed a comfortable majority in the smaller outgoing parliament, holding 90 of the 120 seats.
The legislative polls had been postponed twice. The last delay, which forced authorities to drop plans to have it held concurrently with the presidential election, came after opposition allegations of "irregularities" of seat allocation.
Senegal Sees Low Turnout in Legislative Poll Amid Boycott
June 4, 2007 | Leave a Comment
By Kari Barber
Dakar
03 June 2007
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Election workers wait for voters, 03 Jun 2007
Voter turnout appeared to be low in Sunday’s legislative election in Senegal, considered one of the most stable democracies in West Africa. Many potential voters are staying away from the polls in response to a boycott called by the major opposition parties. Opposition leaders have called the presidential polls in February unfair and have demanded a review of the electoral system. Kari Barber has more from Dakar.
A handful of voters cast their ballots in the Fann district of Dakar. There is no line. Electoral workers say it has been slow all day.
Samba Mbodj came to vote, but he says he is the only person in his family of 20 who did.
Mbodj says he cast a blank vote, meaning he approves none of the candidates. He says he does not support President Abdoulaye Wade’s Senegalese Democratic Party and only voted because he wanted to perform his civic duty.
Maou Sow boycotted the election, 03 Jun 2007
Store owner Maou Sow is boycotting the election. He says he is following the lead place finisher Idrissa Seck, and leader of a new party called Rewmi.
"The candidate I voted for is boycotting, so I do not want to choose another guy. That is why I do not want to vote," said Sow. "That is why I am boycotting like him."
Seck, a former prime minister, and about a dozen other opposition leaders called for the boycott, saying Mr. Wade had refused to meet with them to discuss complaints they had about the electoral process and voting rolls in the presidential election.
Opposition leaders also say the ruling Senegalese Democratic Party has unfair access to government-run detailed computerized information about voting districts.
Over 3,000 candidates, including some from smaller opposition parties, are vying for 150 seats in a newly enlarged National Assembly, 30 more than it previously had.
Opposition spokesman for the Socialist Party Mamadou Barry says the boycott is an exercise in democracy.
"We want a fair, transparent electoral process, period. That is all we want. We are not against Mr. Wade," said Barry. "We just want the electoral process to be clear and if he wins, he wins. If we lose, we lose. But at least we have a fair process, clear that everybody abides to."
Barry says he hopes turnout Sunday will be less than 50 percent.
Officials from the ruling party say elections are fair in Senegal, and that the opposition is calling for the boycott because it fears will lose by a landslide.
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Senegal: 60-armed gov’t security agents raid radio station
June 4, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Sat. June 02, 2007 12:43 pm.- By Bonny Apunyu. - Send this news article
(SomaliNet) The security agents, sent by the government telecommunications agency, which is responsible for regulating the Senegalese radio stations seized all equipment of the Group Avenir Radio; the all-news station, which launched this week, has been banned for 45 days, according to Wal Fadjri.
The Sixty armed Senegalese government security agents raided the headquarters of a radio station yesterday, the Senegalese newspaper Wal Fadjri reported.
Madiambal Diagne, the radio station’s owner, is also the executive director of Le Quotidien, a Senegalese daily known for its criticism of President Abdoulaye Wade.
Officials from the telecommunications agency failed in an attempt to have Diagne stop broadcasting according to Afrol News.
"Mr. Diagne was asked to remove the station from the air but he refused, asking them to do it themselves," a staff member reportedly said.
The security agents then raided the station and took it off the air.-allafrica.com
Voters stay away as opposition snubs Senegal polls
June 4, 2007 | Leave a Comment
By Diadie Ba
DAKAR, June 3 (Reuters) - Many voters stayed away from Senegal’s parliamentary elections on Sunday as the main opposition parties boycotted the ballot to protest against what they called President Abdoulaye Wade’s "monarchy".
Polling stations in the capital Dakar and other cities of the small West African state saw only a trickle of voters in the first hours after they opened, witnesses and officials said.
Opposition leaders had urged citizens to stay at home to contest what they said was the octogenarian leader’s increasingly autocratic style and his refusal to discuss alleged flaws in the presidential poll that re-elected him in February.
The boycott and one-sided polls risked tarnishing Senegal’s image as a model of working democracy in Africa. The mainly Muslim country has won a reputation for political, religious and ethnic tolerance since independence from France in 1960 and has suffered no coups — a unique record in turbulent West Africa.
The Senegalese state news agency APS reported "almost empty voting centres" in Dakar’s populous Pikine suburb and "a timid start to voting" in other parts of the country.
"I’m not voting because the last elections in February were rigged. I feel discouraged by that," said Sory Ibrahima Diakhate, a 50-year-old security guard sitting on a chair on a dusty Dakar street, like others as quiet as on a normal Sunday.
The opposition boycott strategy was expected to give Wade’s ruling Sopi coalition a walkover win in the polls and extend its control over a recently enlarged 150-seat National Assembly.
More than 3,500 candidates were standing, despite the boycott by more than a dozen opposition parties, several led by former presidential candidates who lost to Wade in February.
The opposition said the low early turnout, compared with the enthusiatic voting of February, showed the success of their boycott strategy.
"This is a real slap in the face for Wade," said Dialo Diop of the Siggil Senegal (Stand up Senegal) opposition coalition.
The coalition distributed leaflets urging voters to snub the polls to "save democracy" and "fight Wade’s monarchy".
"DEMOCRATIC FATIGUE"
Opposition leaders launched the poll boycott after Wade refused to discuss their complaints that the electoral process and voters’ roll were flawed and tilted in favour of his ruling Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS).
"We’re experiencing a general malaise after the presidential elections … Senegal is feeling a bit of democratic fatigue," said Alioune Tine of the Dakar-based human rights group RADDHO.
Wade supporters accused the opposition of acting out of defeatist spite and some saw the boycott as political suicide.
"If you don’t vote, then you can’t get up and say anything the next day … Five years without having a voice (in the National Assembly), that’s irresponsible," said Alioune Youm, 48, a commercial agent, as he voted in downtown Dakar.
Many fear the opposition boycott will remove any effective check to Wade, who has already been criticised for harassing political foes and media critics with temporary detentions.
He was enthusiastically elected in 2000, ending four decades of Socialist rule, but popular disillusionment has grown since then and he faces criticism for not doing enough to end poverty, unemployment and high prices for food and basic goods.
In a sign of this social frustration, thousands of young Senegalese have risked their lives trying to reach Spain in rickety open boats in a bid to start a new life in Europe.
"Wade behaves like a king, he doesn’t listen to people. Abroad everyone says this is a model of democracy, but we don’t see it like that," said student Rokhay Ba, who did not vote.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved. |
Senegal Government Closes Private Radio Station
June 4, 2007 | Leave a Comment
By Phuong Tran
Dakar
01 June 2007
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In Senegal, a media owner is preparing to fight the government’s shut down of his new private radio station. Officials say he did not follow the right procedures, but he says he is being silenced. For VOA, Phuong Tran has more from Dakar.
Premiere FM ordered to shut down for 45 days
Radio station owner Madiambal Diagne looks over his new studio. Microphones are in place. The station’s red, white and silver logo hangs on the wall.
But the transmitter that sends out broadcasts is missing. Police took that away on Thursday, when the station’s first broadcast was scheduled. They delivered an order for Diagne to cease operations for 45 days.
Madiambal Diagne shows his station’s permit paperwork
Diagne shows the paperwork he filed in 2003 for a broadcasting permit.
He says that after three years he still had not been assigned a frequency, so he bought another radio station for $140,000, and took over its frequency.
He says for the past six months he did everything the telecommunications agency asked him to do.
He says when the agency said his satellite was too close to the airport, he moved it to another town.
Diagne says he received notice that his file was complete. And then the police arrived.
Madiambal Diagne also publishes ‘Le Quotidien’ newspaper
He says most people in Senegal know his media group, which also includes newspapers, has had a rocky relationship with the government.
In 2004, after Diagne published a confidential government memo that admitted internal corruption, the journalist was arrested and held in jail for more than two weeks on charges of endangering the country’s security.
His arrest sparked a national media blackout and international condemnation.
Senegal’s Regulatory Agency of Telecommunications says it closed the radio station temporarily, because it lacked proper authorization.
Diagne says the agency is using a law that has never been enforced or publicized.
Diagne says the law requires a presidential decree in order to broadcast. He says a decree takes years. The journalist adds that none of the dozens of radio stations in Senegal has received the decree.
Premiere FM studio in Dakar
Representatives from the telecommunications agency did not respond for comment on this report.
In 2005, some people participating in the "African Media Development Initiative" survey conducted by 17 research groups said Senegal’s telecommunications agency was not neutral in assigning frequencies.
But in the same survey, Bacar Dia, Senegal’s Minister of Information, said Senegal’s government supports a free and independent press, but that many stations fail to submit valid applications.
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Senegal to vote in polls likely to dent its democratic credentials
June 4, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Senegal holds parliamentary elections on Sunday amid an opposition poll boycott that threatens to tarnish the country’s long-held democratic credentials.
The boycott, the first in the former French colony which for years has enjoyed the reputation of west Africa’s model democracy, comes three months after President Abdoulaye Wade was re-elected in elections disputed by the opposition as having been marred by fraud and irregularities.
The refusal of 17 parties to participate in the election will hand an easy victory to a pro-Wade coalition which brings together the ruling Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) and its allies.
However, a low turnout could pose a problem of legitimacy for Wade and the government.
A majority of the opposition heavyweights, including the former prime minister Idrissa Seck and Ousmane Tanor Dieng, of the former ruling Socialist Party, who came second and third respectively in the February presidential polls, are staying away from the polls.
Another former prime minister, Moustapha Niasse, who took the fourth position in the vote which saw Wade re-elected with 56 percent early in the year, is also snubbing the June 3 poll.
The opposition decided to boycott the election after Wade refused to review the electoral process.
Opposition leaders had wanted the voter lists to be revised and the creation of an independent structure to replace the government-appointed electoral commission, to ensure poll transparency.
Civil society organisations and foreign diplomats have tried in vain to get the opposition and government to talk, as Wade refused to open up a dialogue.
Senegal has long been regarded a democratic exception in west Africa, given its regular organisation of pluralistic elections and freedom of expression. It so far remains the only country in the region to have never experienced a coup since independence in 1960.
Only small opposition forces have joined Wade’s coalition in the race for 150 national assembly seats.
Observers warn that voter turnout is key for Wade to safeguard his authority.
"The main issue of the legislative elections is the voter turnout rate," said Babacar Gueye, leader of a collective of 11 civil society groupings.
"If this turnout is significant, rulers will be able snub the opposition. If it is weak, the opposition could be regarded as winners of the arm-wrestling," he said.
And if turnout is low, "Wade could try to widen his power base, by wooing opposition parties to power so as not to have a legitimacy problem," he predicted.
Senegal’s parliamentary elections have been deferred twice already, first from last year so as to run concurrently with the presidential ballot, and then again early this year after electoral authorities upheld a charge of irregularities stemming from the allocation of seats in some constituencies.
More than 4,000 candidates will vie for 150 seats for a new and enlarged national assembly. The last lower house had 120 seats, but a new law allowed it to be expanded by 30 more.
Wade’s PDS already enjoyed a comfortable majority with 90 of the 120 deputies in the outgoing parliament.
New Senegal radio shut down before being launched
June 4, 2007 | Leave a Comment
afrol News, 31 May - The government of Senegal on Thursday deployed a large contingent of armed soldiers to shut off the set up privately-owned radio station in the capital Dakar on Thursday.
Transmitting on 92.3, ‘Premier FM’ is owned by a prominent Senegalese journalist, Madiambal Diagne. Mr Diagne is also the publisher of two daily papers – Le Quotidien and Cocorico – and a weekly magazine. Cocorico, a satirical paper, hits the newspaper market this month.
His radio that started test signals on Tuesday has been waiting to be launched when its proprietor was asked to vanish from the air. Prior to the closure, four truckloads of armed soldiers stormed the premises of Avenir Communications, the company that administers Mr Diagne’s media business.
Gun-wielding soldiers could be calmly seen inside their vehicles while their commander and officials of the national telecommunications and stations regulatory authority were busy confronting Mr Digane.
“Mr Diagne was asked to remove the station from the air but he refused asking them to do it themselves,” said a staff of ‘Le Quotidien.’
After a hasty discussion, the officers went away with the station’s apparatus, leaving it off air.
Before the radio hits the airwaves, Mr Diagne commented on the development, recounting the official rough track the company had trekked on to get a radio frequency from the government. He said the radio project had been a long term dream of his company because it had first requested for a frequency from the Information Minister in November 2003.
Diagne said the request was flatly denied for no just cause. But the company kept on the throat of the government so that they could at least issue allow the radio to cover only Dakar and its environment. This too fell on deaf ears, for they were told that the Dakar frequency is saturated.
“We then asked for a frequency to emit in the areas while waiting for that the problem in Dakar to be regulated,” Mr. Diagne said, adding, “this too has been unsuccessful.” Mr Diagne would not understand why others have been issued frequencies, despite denying him the right.
The company did not fold its hands and said enough is enough as in the case of so many people. With the belief that radio is a power tool to better inform, educate and entertain a society, especially at a time the country is going through elections, Avenir Communications then sought possible alternatives. This led to the buying of a local company with a frequency.
But this too is without official complaints that the transmitter is very close to the airport track. It is not clear whether Senegalese authorities will allow the radio to resume operations.
The new radio is being administered by a doyen broadcaster - Michel Diouf – a pioneer founder member of ‘Sud FM’ and Manager of ‘Radio Television Senegalaise’ (RTS).
Mr Diouf’s main ambition is to turn the new radio into a credible voice of truth by relaying factual and well researched human interest stories to audience of Premier FM.
“We want to merge our ambition with out name. We want to be one of the leaders of broadcasting in the country,” he said.
Some months back, Diagne reportedly snubbed an audience with President Abdoulaye Wade.
On 9 July 2004, Madiambal Diagne, also a law expert, was arrested and detained for over 20 days without trial. He was later charged with publishing confidential reports and correspondence, false information and news "which could cause serious political problems."
His arrest and detention spurred the Senegalese privately-owned media to stage a day’s news blackout in protest against what they called “the political arrest of our colleague.”
The media guru’s case had concerned the international media bodies, including the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) that petitioned the Senegalese Prime Minister, Macky Sall, reminding him that the “jailing of Mr Diagne for his journalistic activities constitutes a clear breach of his right to freedom of expression, which is guaranteed by numerous international agreements, including Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Furthermore, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights considers that "detention, as punishment for the peaceful expression of an opinion, is one of the most reprehensible ways to enjoin silence and, as a consequence, a grave violation of human rights".
WAN urged Senegal to immediately release Mr Diagne from jail and drop all criminal charges against him. “We urge you to do everything possible to ensure that in future your country fully respects international standards of freedom of expression.”
Senegal, one of Africa’s biggest democracies, is becoming intolerant to free expreesion and speech.
While on official trip to Mauritania, President Wade was asked why his government had deviated from his promise that his government would never send a journalist in prison. His reply was thus: "Senegalese journalists don’t respect the law."
The Wade government has increased the annual subvention to the press as well as started building a magnificient press house for journalists.
By staff writer
© afrol News
Opposition boycott of polls takes gloss off Senegal’s image
June 4, 2007 | Leave a Comment
June 01, 2007 Edition 1
Dakar - "The Old Man is strong!" is a favourite chant of supporters of Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, whose rule over the West African state looks set to become stronger still in parliamentary polls.
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 in April that 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 56% 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’s 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 that will remove any check to Wade, who has already been criticised 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.
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 lacklustre, 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 that high voter abstention will dent Wade’s democratic credentials at home and abroad.
"Senegalese should take the opportunity to show 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. - Reuters
Senegal Private Radio Launch Halted by Gendarmes
June 4, 2007 | Leave a Comment
There was supposed to be something of a celebration: the launch of Dakar radio station Premiere FM. Gendarmes appeared and authorities asked owner Madiambal Diagne to shut down signal tests already in progress.
follow-up to: African Broadcasters Reorganize - August 21, 2006
The Administrative Council of the Union of National Radio and Television Organizations of Africa (URTNA) agreed to proceed with the organizations restructure, complete with a new name, after meeting in Dakar, Senegal.
He refused and, reportedly, told telecom authorities to do it themselves. They did, with security agents hauling away enough equipment to render the station off the air.
“He sounded exhausted and shell-shocked after spending all night giving interviews,” said
Patrice Schneider of Media Development Loan Fund (MDLF) in an email to ftm today (Friday, June 1). MDLF has a relationship with Mr. Diagne’s media company, Avenir Communications.
Mr. Diagne, publisher of two independent newspapers, spent time in jail in 2004 after upsetting authorities with critical coverage. Premiere FM is licensed as a news and information radio station. Schneider said authorities apparently pressured at least one supplier to not provide broadcast equipment.
The station is banned from broadcasting for 45 days, according to reports by VOA and Senegalese newspaper Wal Fadjri.
Just by coincidence, legislative elections are being held Sunday, June 3.- June 3, 2007
Opposition in Senegal Boycotts Vote
June 4, 2007 | Leave a Comment
By LYDIA POLGREEN
Published: June 4, 2007
DAKAR, Senegal, June 3 — Voters in Senegal on Sunday largely stayed home from an election to choose a new national assembly amid widespread apathy and after a call for a boycott by the main opposition parties.
In calling for a boycott, opposition leaders said President Abdoulaye Wade refused to meet with them to discuss irregularities in the voter rolls and the process of requiring identification from voters in February, when he was re-elected. The opposition parties did not offer candidates for the 150-seat assembly. Mr. Wade, who will serve a five-year-term after easily winning the election against a fractured opposition, has dismissed the complaints as irrelevant to the overall outcome of the race.
But the prospect of a legislature virtually devoid of opposition is sure to tarnish Senegal’s cherished reputation as a strong and long-standing democracy in a region where governments have historically changed in putsches and rigged elections rather than in open, multiparty voting.
Final results in the election were not expected until Monday.
Senegal has never had a coup, and in 2000 it became one of the very few African countries to pass power from one party to another peacefully in an election. Mr. Wade, a longtime opposition figure, won largely because of his pledges to shake up the sleepy economy with changes that would put legions of unemployed youths to work.
He defeated the incumbent from the Socialist Party, which had governed the country since independence in 1960. The Constitution was recently changed to reduce the president’s term from seven years to five. But many of the young people who supported Mr. Wade in 2000 were disillusioned by 2007, when he ran for re-election despite being in his 80s.
A long-promised program of public works began in earnest only once the election drew near, and Senegal’s economic growth has been dampened by high fuel prices and other factors. Unemployment remains rife, and each year the number of young people fleeing to Europe on fishing boats grows exponentially. Basic services like water, electricity and trash collection have faltered.
Since his re-election, Mr. Wade has pledged to redouble his efforts to improve the economy and to increase the number of jobs.
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