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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------