Politics
Senegal presidential elections: Wade booed as he votes
“I’m thinking about the future of my country,” said the 47-year-old. “People have had enough. If you earn, like me, 80,000 francs (US$160) a month, and a bag of rice costs 25,000 (US$50), how are you supposed to live? We’re a peaceful people, but you can’t push us and expect nothing. If Wade wins, it will be chaos.”
Voting throughout the capital got off to an orderly start with no immediate reports of violence. Thijs Berman, head of the European Union observation mission, said that turnout appeared to be high, an encouraging sign.
Still many people in this nation that is more than 90 percent Muslim fingered prayer beads as they waited their turn. Others had their eyes closed in prayer. One man stood in the queue, mouthing verses from an open Qur’an. All said they were praying for peace.
In a volatile part of the world, Senegal has long been seen as the exception.
Mauritania located to the north held its first democratic election in 2007, only for the president to be overthrown in a coup a year later. To the south, Guinea-Bissau’s president was assassinated two years ago. And further south in Ivory Coast, mass graves are still being unearthed containing the victims of last year’s post-election violence.
“For many years we all wrote and spoke about Senegal as being different,” said Africa expert Chris Fomunyoh at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs in Washington. “Senegal has been viewed as the anchor in the sub-region. And today, the metal on that anchor is melting before our very eyes.”
First elected 12 years ago, Wade was once hailed as a hope for Africa. He spent 25 years as the opposition leader of this nation of more than 12 million, fighting the excesses of the former socialist regime which ruled Senegal from 1960 until 2000 when he was first elected.
Growing unrest is being fueled by a sense that the country’s institutions are being violated, starting with the constitution. The anger is combined with the fact that one in two people in Senegal still live below the poverty line, according to the World Bank.
