The Lesson From Senegal's Peaceful
Electioneering

Panafrican News Agency (Dakar)
OPINION
April 29, 2001
Posted to the web April 29, 2001

Nelson Magombo
Dakar, Senegal

Senegalese voters went to the polls Sunday to elect their national
legislators in a hotly contested poll, in which none of the 25 parties is
expected to win an absolute majority in the 120-seat Parliament,
according to political observers.

Members of President Abdoulaye Wade's ruling Democratic Party of
Senegal (PDS), have predicted that the party would win at least 72
seats with its SOPI (Change) Coalition partners.

But the contest would also involve the former ruling Socialist Party
(PS) led by Secretary General Tanor Dieng and the Alliance des
Forces de Progress (AFP) of former Prime Minister Moustapha
Niasse.

The SOPI Coalition ended PS's 40-year-old dominance of
Senegalese polity when Wade defeated Abdou Diouf in the
Presidential poll a year ago.

In one of the most remarkable campaigns on the continent, the
Senegalese have shown in the parliamentary election that
electioneering can be conducted without blood-letting, which often
characterises such exercise in several African States.

Every night, from 7 April to 28 April, State-owned Senegalese TV
broadcast five-minute campaign speeches where well-dressed
candidates and their colourful and energetic supporters delivered
political messages in equal measure devoid of acrimony.

Campaigning proper was like a carnival punctuated by traditional
music and other fan-fare.

Interestingly, Wade did not get any preferential treatment by way of
extended time on the airwaves, like the controversial and undue
concession accorded his counterparts in other African States, where
the opposition parties are not even allowed to use the State-owned
media to air their own views.

Foreigners watching the Senegalese spectacle cannot hide their
appreciation for a practice they commend to the rest of Africa.

The peaceful exercise is a sharp contrast to the situation in countries
such as Zambia, where partisans of the ruling Movement for Multiparty
Democracy (MMD) Friday reportedly unleashed violence on fellow
MMD members opposed to President Frederick Chiluba's quest for a
third term presidency.

The militants reportedly beat up a Minister on the eve of a crucial party
Convention to decide on Chiluba's divisive bid.

The Minister was allegedly assaulted for voicing his opposition to
Chiluba's bid to cling on to power after his 10-year mandate ends in
October.

Also in Malawi, the ruling United Democratic Front has been accused
of sending its "thugs" to disrupt an opposition campaign rally in which
one UDF man died at the hands of his own men, according to the
Malawi Congress Party which had convened the meeting.

The Zambian and Malawi election-related violence are only few
examples of a political malaise, which hinders the emergence and
entrenchment of true democracy and peace on the continent.

No matter the outcome of Sunday's parliamentary poll, the true winner
in Senegal going by the peaceful run-up to the balloting, may not
necessarily be the political parties, but the Senegalese nation and its
people.

The lesson should be instructive to Africa as a whole.



>To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
>Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
>You may also send subscription requests to
>[log in to unmask]
>if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your
>full name and e-mail address.
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------

_________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask]
if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------