Abdoulaye Wade Upbeat On Presidential PollsAbdoulaye Wade Upbeat On Presidential Polls
February 13, 2000 

Matar Gaye
PANA Correspondent 

DAKAR, Senegal (PANA) - Senegal's veteran opposition leader, Abdoulaye Wade of the Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS), could easily mislead anyone who is not familiar with the country's politics. 

At 74, Wade is standing for the presidential election for the fifth time. He started in 1978 and ran again in 1983, 1988 and 1993 without making any headway.

This time around, he predicts that he will beat incumbent president Abdou Diouf at the polls on 27 February. Diouf has been a three-time winner against Wade in previous presidential races.

Wade is better known as a lawyer but he is also a trained mathematician and economist who has been able to use his learning to further his political career. Using the power of figures, he has been campaigning to convince voters he will make a better president than the other seven opponents in the current presidential race.

"You can rely on me. I am a candidate of the poor, farmers, youths, women and executives who are all aspiring for change at the highest office," he tells voters.

Twice a senior minister under Diouf, Wade has, according to his close associates, the ability to get thousands of supporters to accept his political vision. "I enjoy the support of fellow opposition members who have now accorded me the political legitimacy which I lacked in my initial attempts to represent the people's will," he told PANA in an interview.

The PDS candidate is at the same time the candidate of 'Alternance 2000' coalition which includes the three most important parties of the Senegalese Left. "I am certain of winning the forthcoming presidential election on 27 February", he says.

As a charismatic leader who started his political career in 1974, Wade is, according to observers, the country's leading opposition figure and the most feared by the ruling Socialist Party (PS) which has been in power since independence from France in 1960.

He was born in 1926 in Saint Louis, a city in northern Senegal. He belongs to the first generation of African intellectuals who graduated from the now defunct Federal Teacher Training College of French West Africa in Sebikotane, a small village 50 km north of Dakar.

He earned a teacher's diploma in 1947. 

Between 1950 and 1959 he went to Lycee Condorcet in Paris.Thereafter, he enrolled in the Law Faculty of the University of Besancon and that of Grenoble in France.

Armed with degrees in applied mathematics, law and economics, he returned to Senegal where he taught, for more than 10 years, at the faculty of law of the University of Dakar. He became the dean in 1970.

In the same year, he quit teaching to practice law in Dakar. He practised as an international consultant for the Organisation of African Unity, the African Development Bank and other institutions.

The political career of Wade and his 'Sopi' ('change' in Wolof), has now been expropriated by the entire political class, including the ruling party.

He admits he has had an ambivalent and tortuous relationship with the government at various points in his political career.

Wade founded the PDS in 1974, as the second legally authorised political party in Senegal after the Socialist Party. 

In the 1998 parliamentary elections, the PDS retained its position as the main opposition party in the legislature. 

But with only 23 seats in a national assembly of 140 MPs, this represents a decline when compared to the previous elections when he won 25 seats in the 120-seat parliament.

"I do not want to tread on dead bodies to get to the presidential palace. I prefer to come into power by peaceful and transparent means," he says.

He denounces past elections as fraudulent. "In 1998 and 1993, I won the highest number of votes. But fraudulent manoeuvres and the confiscation of power by Mr. Diouf deprived the Senegalese from changing the government through me," he says.

Wade has been arrested several times, convicted for fomenting public disorder and threatening state security. The most memorable trial took place in 1988, following a controversial and relatively violent presidential poll. 

But each time, there has been a reconciliation and life continued as usual. Now, Wade says the era of reconciliation is over as the 27 February polls approaches. He says he is going to use "all the means at his disposal to make the people's will to be respected."

Wade, awarded the French Legion of Honour, is married to Viviane, a French national with whom he has a son and a daughter.

"I have no intention whatsoever to make any concession to Mr. Diouf (this time) with whom further negotiation will no longer be possible," he adds with emphasis.

Most political observers view the election as Wade's last ditched attemtp at the presidency due to his fairly advanced age.

Some of his political detractors say Wade may not be fit for the demanding job due to his poor health. Of recent he has spent more time in France for medical attention.

His supporters, however, say this is not true. His problems seem to derived from the fact that he has in the past made too many concessions to the ruling party.

"I am perhaps guilty of having been conciliatory with the regime, but I have nothing to regret," he said.

As vice president of the Liberal International, Wade sees himself as a liberal who would rely on the quality of Senegal's human resources to "build a modern country, endowed with the basic infrastructure."

After almost 30 years in politics, Wade is perceived by many of his compatriots as a strong believer in democracy as a vehicle for change and good governance. 





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