Senegal's ruling Socialists claim edge in polls
DAKAR: A ruling Socialist Party source said on Tuesday that President Abdou
Diouf had won 43 percent of the vote in Sunday's presidential election in
Senegal, but the main opposition party said the claim was unrealistic.
The PS source said veteran opposition leader Abdoulaye Wade had won 30
percent and would therefore go forward to a second-round run-off against
Diouf.
Provisional official figures are not expected until Wednesday and Wade's
Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) rejected the percentages given out by the
Socialists.
``I don't believe that's possible,'' Wade's campaign manager, Mbaye Ndiaye,
told Reuters, referring to the 43 percent attributed to Diouf. ``But if we
go to a second round, Abdou Diouf will be beaten,'' he added.
Wade told a news conference Monday that he had won the most votes. Diouf had
won only one-third of the votes cast, and the seven challengers had amassed
two-thirds, he said. His party declined to give percentages.
The PS source said Moustapha Niasse, a Socialist Party defector, was in
third place with 16 percent.
Another former Socialist minister, Djibo Ka, was said to have won seven
percent. A run-off is required since no candidate has won more than 50
percent -- the first time this has happened in Senegal in the 40 years of
Socialist Party rule since independence from France in 1960.
Niasse has already said he would call for a vote for Diouf's opponent in any
second round in which he was not himself a candidate. Ka, the other
ex-socialist, has kept quiet about his intentions.
The Socialists have said they would talk to all the other candidates about
forming alliances before the second round vote. The campaign focused largely
on institutional matters, the opposition saying too much power was
concentrated in Diouf's hands.
Diouf promised to call on independent experts to draw up a new constitution
and said this would be put to a referendum. Senegal is one of the most
stable countries in Africa. It has never had a ilitary coup and has held
multi-partyelections since the mid-1970s, well before most African states.
But those elections have always resulted in Socialist Party victories and
the opposition has alleged fraud in the past.
The three-week electoral campaign was marked by violent incidents,
especially in the big towns where Wade is strongest. Polling day passed off
calmly in most places and the capital, Dakar, has been calm since then, the
Socialists'acceptance of the need for a second round placating those
opposition supporters who believed the election would be rigged. (Reuters)
For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service
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