Senegal to vote in polls likely to dent its democratic credentials
June 4, 2007
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.
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