Monday, 28 February, 2000, 03:50 GMT
Row over Senegal vote


By Mark Doyle in Dakar

A dispute has arisen about presidential election in the West African state
of Senegal, even before official figures are released.

A spokesman for the incumbent president, Abdou Diouf, says that statistical
projections made it probable he had won the necessary simple majority to win
in Sunday's first round of voting.

However, the main opposition leader, Abdulaye Wade says that a second
run-off round will be necessary.

Although election disputes are common in Africa, this case is unusual.

Opposition confident

Senegal has had a multi-party system since the mid 1970s. But ironically,
given this situation, the governing party has held power since independence,
thanks to widespread use of state funds for political patronage.

These elections have seen several key defections from the governing party,
and the main opposition leader, Abdulaye Wade, appears very confident.

He has made it clear he will not accept yet another victory by the ruling
Socialist Party.

He threatened to call on the army to intervene - in effect, recommending a
coup d'etat - if there was any suspicion of cheating by his long-time rival
Abdou Diouf.

"If he declares himself winner of the election, there will be clash in the
country and as a consequence, demonstration and violence," Mr Wade told the
BBC.

This scenario could be dismissed as unlikely and as irresponsible
scaremongering from Abdulaye Wade.

But a surprise coup d'etat occurred in similar circumstances just last month
in the West African state of Ivory Coast.

Election violence

There was a high turnout in the presidential elections, but voting was
disrupted in parts of the southern Casamance region, where a simmering
rebellion has been taking place for many years.

A statement from the Senegalese military said rebels had attacked villages
in two locations but that the army had pushed them back.

There were also isolated violent incidents directly related to the
elections, but not the widespread unrest that the opposition had been
hinting at prior to the polls.

Queues

In central Dakar, long lines of voters queued up patiently, many of them
wearing the beautiful flowing robes or bou bous that are a hallmark of this
part of West Africa.

They registered, chose their candidate, then dipped their fingers in
indelible ink - one of the measures designed to prevent double voting or
other types of fraud.

The ruling Socialist Party had clearly mobilised the powerful electoral
machine it has built up over 40 unbroken years in power.

But opposition parties, led by Mr Wade, were also very active, hoping that
this time they could achieve their election slogan Sopi, which means
"change" in the local Wollof language.

Senegal was one of the first African states to adopt a multi-party political
system in the early 1980s and, for a long time, was held up as a beacon of
democracy on a continent of one-party states and military dictatorships.
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