Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade: « I will win and win again.»

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afrol News, 26 February - The Senegalese President, Abdoulaye Wade, is waiting to be declared the overall winner of the country's presidential polls, held yesterday. Mr Wade, who has been challenged by 14 other candidates, is expected to have polled close to 60 percent of the votes in one of Africa's democratic leaders, that is yet to taste coup d'état.

According to provisional results, the voter turn out was more than 70 percent, which was why some polling centres with long queues voted beyond the official closing hours, 18:00.

Mr Wade's former Prime Minister, Idrissa Seck, is reported to rank second while the leader of the formerly ruling Parti Socialiste (PS), Ousmane Tanor Dieng, followed.

International election observers have already described the conduct of the polls as free, fair and transparent.

Macky Sall, the current Prime Minister and campaign manager of Mr Wade's Coalition Sopi 2007, quickly convened a news conference at the party's bureau in Dakar, announcing a first-round victory for their candidate. Mr Sall said going by the partial results, it was clear that Mr Wade swept the polls with 57 percent of the votes. Mr Sall said the results were irrefutable and as such the opposition should start bowing down.

Opposition leaders condemned Mr Sall's pronouncement, arguing that it would be impossible to avoid a second round polls unless the results were defrauded. They found it hard to believe that the incumbent had polled more than the 50 percent necessary for an outright win.

Besides, officials of Autonomous National Electoral Commission (CENA) warned against any attempts to pre-empt the results. They argued that such an announcement would not help the climate of serenity.

Official provisional results were expected tonight and if no candidate polls 51 percent of the votes, then a second round run-off will take place in mid-March. In that event, Mr Wade's challenger is given better chances by most observers.

There are fears of post electoral violence, as some opposition leaders have started questioning the relayed results.

Mr Wade's camp however conceded defeat in few provinces. These include Thiès and Kerr Majabel, where Idrissa Seck and the candidate of Alliance of Progressive Forces (AFP), Moustapha Niasse, had beaten President Wade.

President Wade swept the polls in both Senegal and abroad. He polled over 75 percent of the foreign votes.

The Senegalese President dislodged PS from power in 2000 during the second round of voting. The PS had ruled the country since independence.

Mr Wade, who is seeking a second term, has come under pressure in recent months over high rural unemployment.

After voting in Point E in the capital Dakar, President Wade told journalists that nothing could stop him from sweeping the polls in the first round. "Door dorat," he said in Wollof, meaning "I will win and win again."

But the PS leader argued that Mr Wade was merely bluffing because he was at the brink of losing.

Though his critics accused his regime of its failure to arrest poverty through the creation of jobs, Mr Wade, an economic liberal and legal luminary, argued that he has boosted Senegal's reputation as a model of democracy, political freedom and stability.

By Musa Saidykhan

© afrol News

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