Hi folks,

The following is part 2 of a two-part article I'm forwarding to the list.

Katim

PANA - March 22, 2000

The strong resistance of the civil society in the aftermath of the 1988 presidential election, marked by massive vote rigging and the imprisonment of the major opposition leaders, laid the foundation of that revolution.  Peace was demanded and obtained by Wade, Diouf's main opponent.  In return, a long process of revising the whole legal system governing the various stages of the electoral process was carried out between 1988 and 1992.

Two round tables were held during that period under the supervision of Prof. Ibou Diaite in 1988, and former ICJ judge Keba Mbaye in 1992. The judges, whose independent approach was acknowledged by all the parties, piloted the proceedings which led to an electoral law then hailed as "the best in the world."  The law, re-adapted along the way on the basis of a consensus, and the setting up of a National Elections Observatory (ONEL) on 10 December 1998, led to the fourth factor that ushered change.

It was the introduction of an electoral process "collectively monitored, from start to finish, not only by all the parties involved, but also by independent national observers and a free media represented in all parts of the country and using all modern means of communication at its disposal."  In addition to the achievements from a lasting political struggle, four other factors, strictly conjectural, but very often mentioned by political analysts, fostered democratic change in Senegal after 40 years of socialist Party rule. One is the upswing of the youth who represent 40 percent of the electorate after the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18 years by law in 1992, and women, who became the majority with 52 percent of the electorate.

A large number of citizens registered as voters for the first time, in view of the 2000 presidential election which they wanted to use as a platform to impose their will and priorities.  Another factor was the "decline of the Socialist Party," with the departure of former influential minister Djibo Leyti Ka after the "congress without debate" of March 1996 which catapulted his rival, Ousmane Tanor Dieng, to the top hierarchy of the party as First Secretary.

Djibo Ka and his friends set up their own party in 1998 and won 11 seats in the parliamentary elections held the same year. In the first round of the 2000 presidential election, he won 7.09 percent of the vote.  The decline of the Socialist Party was compounded by the resignation, six months to the presidential election, of another former minister, Moustapha Niasse, to whom Wade has promised the position of prime minister.  Niasse supported Wade in the second round of the presidential election after winning 16.76 percent of the vote in the first round.

The last two factors are the extraordinary 'Rainbow Coalition' of more than 20 parties that supported the opposition leader in the first round. The coalition, which also included other components of the civil society, was strengthened in the second round poll by a successful drive "to neutralise and isolate President Abdou Diouf from his key external supporters." 

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