March 3, 2000
DAKAR, Senegal (PANA) - The Senegalese Court of Appeals Thursday announced the provisional results of last Sunday's first round presidential election, which set a stage for a runoff between the incumbent, Abdou Diouf, and opposition leader Abdoulaye Wade on 19 March.
According to the court, Diouf, who heads the ruling Socialist Party, obtained 41.3 percent of the vote, while Abdoulaye Wade of the opposition coalition 'Alternance 2000' got 30.9 percent.
Moustapha Niasse of the Alliance of the Forces of Progress (AFP) got 16.7 percent, and Djibo Ka of the Union for Democratic Renewal (URD) got 7.09 percent.
Ousseynou Fall, Iba Der Thiam, Cheikh Abdoulaye Dieye and Mademba Sock got 1.12 percent, 1.2 percent, 0.9 percent and 0.58 percent, respectively.
In the second round, all the defeated candidates have declared support for Wade and not Diouf, who has been president since 1981 when Leopold Sedar Senghor resigned.
The man in charge of elections in the Socialist Party, Khalifa Sall, was quoted Friday by the private daily, Sud Quotidien, as saying that his party was not surprised by the results.
He added, however, that the ruling party will file petitions with the Constitutional Council for irregularities that occurred in polling centres in Dakar, Thies and Kaolack where "the vote was marred by fraud."
Meanwhile, Idrissa Seck of 'Alternance 2000' said that irregularities had occurred during polling in Kayes, Mali, Mbour (80 km from Dakar) and Kaffrine, central Senegal.
"We have noted irregularities in Kaffrine and above all in Mali. But, even if the various petitions are accepted by the Constitutional Council, this would not significantly change the results announced," said Abdoulaye Babou, the AFP co-ordinator.
The first president of the Court of Appeal, Arona Diouf, said the provisional results will have to be endorsed by the Constitutional Council.
The complete provisional results proclaimed by the Court of appeal were as follows:
Registered voters : 2,741,840 Ballots cast : 1,694,828 Invalid votes : 23,385 Valid votes : 1,671,443 Candidate Votes Percentage Abdou Diouf 690,886 41.31 Abdoulaye Wade 517,642 30.97 Moustapha Niasse 280,885 16.76 Djibo L. Ka 118,487 7.09 Iba D. Thiam 20,163 1.20 Ousseynou Fall 18,676 1.12 Cheikh A. Dieye 16,216 0.97 Mademba Sock 9,318 0.58
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