Jones,

Thanks for forwarding this piece.  Senegal makes me proud to be African.  Regardless of  Wade's sometimes tempered outbursts, he is undoubtly a democrat and a patriot (not in  'dim wit' Jobe's interpretation of these terms .)
 Wade is injecting new paradigms in every facet of Senegalese life and i hope he succeeds.
I hope Senegal will be seen as a new beacon of hope for a somewhat 'hopeless continent'. 

I have always believed that Africa has sincere sons and daughters who would one day make her great again.

regards,

Mboge

>From: basil jones <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Senegal's Peaceful Electioneering
>Date: Tue, 1 May 2001 19:31:56 -0000
>
>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.
>
>
>
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