Senegalese President Accepts Defeat
By Douglas Farah
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday , March 21, 2000 ; A17
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, March 20 –– Senegalese President Abdou Diouf conceded
defeat today to longtime rival Abdoulaye Wade in a hotly contested
election, ending 40 years of Socialist Party rule in the West African
country.
Diouf’s concession came before results were formally announced, heartening
observers of a region noted for its political volatility. In Ivory Coast,
another of West Africa’s most stable countries, the military overthrew the
democratically elected government on Christmas Eve. Nigeria returned to
democratic rule last year, but has recently suffered a violent round of
ethnic and religious strife that has weakened the government.
“The president telephoned Mr. Wade, the elected president of the republic,
on Monday morning to congratulate him warmly on his victory,” said a
statement from the administration, read on Senegalese radio. “He offered
him his best wishes for success in his difficult, noble and exciting
mission in the service of the entire Senegalese people.”
While Senegal, a country of 10 million people, has remained relatively
stable and prosperous, it has been ruled exclusively by the Socialist Party
since it won independence from France in 1960. Diouf, 64, took office 19
years ago and served as prime minister for 10 years before that.
His predecessor and mentor, poet and politician Leopold Sedar Senghor,
surprised the country in 1980 by voluntarily stepping down, turning over
power to Diouf, as prescribed by Senegal’s constitution.
“This is a huge step, a major event for Senegal and for Africa as a whole,”
said Christopher Fomunyoh, an Africa expert at the National Democratic
Institute, a Washington-based group that monitors elections and promotes
democracy. “A party that was in power for 40 years loses power through the
ballot and the president calls up his opponent to congratulate him—it is
unheard of.”
Regional experts said the elections, in which Wade was the beneficiary of
the votes of citizens tired of Socialist rule, could set the tone for
upcoming ballots in Ivory Coast, Ghana and Guinea.
Mamadou Toure, a former director of the International Monetary Fund for
Africa and a political analyst, said in a telephone interview from the
Senegalese capital Dakar that Diouf’s concession “does well for democracy.”
“This election is quite important because we are not accustomed to see the
party in power lose,” Toure said. “People seem to have understood the
decision lies with them. Now elected people will be listening to the
people, trying to satisfy their needs, because power is not just in the
hands of a few outsiders, but in the hands of the people.”
Despite threats of violence in what was expected to be an extremely close
runoff, balloting was generally orderly and peaceful, said diplomats and
observers.
What was surprising, according to foreign observers and Senegalese
analysts, was the apparent margin of Wade’s victory. In the first round of
balloting on Feb. 27, Diouf amassed 41.3 percent of the vote to Wade’s 31
percent. However, preliminary runoff results today showed Wade, who was
allied with most of the other opposition groups, winning nearly 60 percent
of the vote.
Wade, 73 and making his fifth presidential run, declared that his victory
marked the beginning of a new political system.
“Midnight has struck, the system is dead,” Wade said. “Another Senegal
begins today. I’m happy to know that when I leave this earth I will have
left behind a different Senegal to the one we’ve known.”
Diouf and his government have been accused of corruption and cronyism
through the years. But many said the president deserved credit not just for
his willingness to accept defeat, but for his willingness to take other
steps during the campaign, including making public the extent of his
personal wealth.
“Diouf looks really great,” said Fomunyoh. “He has lifted Senegal to new
heights and in so doing has set a new standard for other African countries
to try to emulate. Hopefully, it will have a ripple effect.”
END
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
