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
