February 28, 2000
DAKAR, Senegal (PANA) - The Senegalese National Election Observatory has described Sunday's presidential election as "free and transparent."
Speaking to journalists a few hours after polling had ended, the ONEL's chairman, Louis Pereira De Carvalho, said the casting of ballots had taken place "under the best of conditions."
"I know anything can happen tomorrow. But I have confidence in the Senegalese people," he said, expressing the hope that the peaceful spirit that had prevailed during polling would be maintained to avert confrontation in the next stages of the electoral process.
Carvalho claimed that none of the 9,000 ONEL agents who supervised and monitored the election throughout the country had complained about the lack of transparency.