Senegal: Where democracy was the winner
Tuesday, 21 March, 2000, 23:06 GMT
By West Africa correspondent Mark Doyle
The peaceful and democratic change of power in Senegal was a highly unusual
event for an Africa dominated by military or otherwise authoritarian
regimes.
The result is not only important for Senegal, but could have a profound
influence on democracy elsewhere in Africa by encouraging voters to realise
that other long-term leaders are not invincible.
I first visited Senegal almost 20 years ago, when Abdou Diouf began his
reign in power. Until Monday, he stayed there.
Like most Senegalese voters, I knew that Diouf remained in power through
clever and sometimes corrupt political practice. But the very fact that he
remained so long made him appear unassailable.
On the eve of the elections, I was discussing the possible outcome with an
old Senegalese friend. My friend was intending to vote for the opposition
leader, Abdoulaye Wade, not because he particularly liked him, but because
he knew the Socialist Party behind the long-time president Abdou Diouf was
corrupt.
Unexpected
My friend was however convinced that Mr Wade would not win. He was not sure
how, but he was certain that the ruling Socialists would somehow triumph,
possibly by rigging the result.
I felt the same. My head said it was theoretically possible for Wade to win,
but my heart and my instinct said it would never happen.
But it did, and the reason lies in the determination of the Senegalese
people and their level of political sophistication.
Some people have also argued that the democratic change depended ultimately
on the goodwill of President Abdoul Diouf, who graciously conceded defeat
when it was clear that he had lost.
To some extent, this is true. However, it is likely that if Mr Diouf had
tried to hang on, despite losing, it would have led to civil unrest,
probably prompting a coup d'etat.
The ultimate result would then have been the same. Senegalese voters would
have demanded fresh elections which Abdoulaye Wade would then, again, have
almost certainly won.
History of democracy
Thus the real question is not why Diouf conceded to the will of the people,
but why Senegal is such an unusually democratic African country. Part of the
answer lies in history.
The first president of Senegal at independence in 1960 was Leopold Sedar
Senghor. Mr Senghor was a considerable intellectual figure as well as being
a wily politician.
He was the first black member of the elite Paris Literary Organisation, the
Academie Francaise, and a renowned poet and philosopher.
After a period of single party rule, it seems that Mr Senghor wanted to make
his country as unique as himself and to give it an aura of democracy.
In 1974, he created a strictly controlled multi-party system, with four
parties allowed, which had to stick to names and political labels which he,
Senghor, designated. One of those parties would be "Liberal". It was called
the Senegalese Democratic Party and was to be led by Abdoulaye Wade.
Gradually, the genie got out of the bottle, and the number of political
parties in Senegal increased. The business establishment stuck firmly behind
and financed the Socialist Party, which despite its name was never
left-wing, and which became synonymous with the state.
Powerful personality
Because of Abdoulaye Wade's powerful personality, the Democratic Party
became the main opposition force. The existence of numerous political
parties raised the level of political consciousness among individual voters
to a level much higher than in most of Western Europe.
In Africa, partly because of poverty, politicians tend to have a much more
profound effect on ordinary people's lives. They have it in their gift to
deliver roads or hospitals and because the people need these so badly, they
minutely scrutinise every single move that politicians make.
Thus, the conditions were set in Senegal for a flowering of political
consciousness.
Senegal's political sophistication led in turn to a vibrant free press.
Dozens of newspapers are published here, and every single one of them treats
politics much more seriously than the mass circulation tabloids, available
in countries such as the United Kingdom.
Technology
More recently, technology has contributed to Senegalese democracy. Several
FM radio stations have been established, which have given all currents of
opinions a platform almost to propagate their ideas.
During the election, urban Senegalese were walking around with a radio glued
to one ear and a mobile phone glued to the other.
The FM stations and the cellphone networks revolutionised this presidential
election. The stations sent reporters to hundreds of individual voting
bureaux and within minutes of the local returning officer announcing the
result, the reporters got on their cellphones and broadcast it.
In these circumstances, it would have been very difficult for the
authorities to rig the result without the electorate knowing all about it.
Voting system
Another factor which had a crucial influence on the result, and more
generally on democracy in Senegal, was the electoral system itself, which
has two rounds of voting.
President Diouf won the first round in which there were eight candidates,
but not with a large enough majority to avoid a second run-off round between
himself and Abdoulaye Wade.
It seems from analysis of the electoral arithmetic that many voters who cast
their ballots for Diouf in the first round switched to Wade in the second.
It is not clear why this happened. But it may well have been a psychological
phenomenon.
Many electors may have seen the first round results and suddenly realised
that voting the opposition into power was a real tangible possibility. Abdou
Diouf, the president who had almost become a monarch, was suddenly
vulnerable, and the electorate decided to give him a coup de grace.
Democracy the winner
Political analysis and arguments about Senegal's extraordinary election will
no doubt continue for years. But one thing is clear - the people got the
result they wanted and democracy triumphed.
This has made most Senegalese rightfully proud. One of the Dakar newspapers
commented on the day after the election that the real point was not whether
Abdou Diouf or Abdoulaye Wade occupies the presidency.
The crucial thing was that the people have proved that they can change their
president. This is a lesson, the newspaper wrote, that will never be
forgotten.
-
BBC News
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