Opposition boycott of polls takes gloss off Senegal’s image
June 4, 2007
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
Comments
Got something to say?
