Senegal's Wade Named Candidate For 2012 Polls

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Senegal's Wade Named Candidate For 2012 Polls

Friday, 23 December 2011 17:15

President Wade

(AFP) – Senegal's 85-year-old president Abdoulaye Wade was nominated by his party on Friday to run for a third term in February's presidential elections, the day after clashes killed one person.

He accepted his nomination at a special meeting of delegates of his ruling Senegalese Democratic Party in Dakar.

Wade, first elected president in 2000, wants to run again despite strong domestic opposition and concerns from some Western countries that his candidacy

Wade accepted the nomination at a meeting of his PDS party in Dakar (AFP, Seyllou)

could threaten the stability of Senegal, long considered one of Africa's most democratic nations.

Thursday's violence erupted on the eve of rival rallies by Wade supporters and opposition protesters angered by his bid for a third term.

According to opposition Socialist Party spokesman Abdoulaye Wilane, five vehicles filled with armed Wade supporters attacked a local council in a neighbourhood of the capital Dakar.

The party's youth wing leader, Barthelemy Dias, returned fire and fatally shot one man, but was acting in self defence, Wilane said.

Dias was summoned Friday by police, who said they had already quizzed four of Wade's supporters.

Wade's first term lasted seven years and he was reelected in 2007 for five years, after a constitutional reform shortened presidential terms.

The seven-year stint was reintroduced in another constitutional amendment in 2008, prompting the opposition to argue that Wade's fresh bid was illegal and that he had exhausted the two-term limit.

Opponents also claim Wade is at least five years older than his stated age.

This week, Senegalese media printed a letter four members of the US Congress sent Wade asking him not to seek re-election, saying that to do so could lead to more unrest.

Senegal has enjoyed a history of stability since independence from France in 1960, though the west African nation has seen social and political discontent grow in recent months.

Comments

0 #5 2012-01-15 13:49

je veux que mon fils karim me remplace à mon poste de president voilà mes raisons de me presenter aux elections.depxb

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+2 #4 2011-12-30 16:04

Wade, I have been your admirer though I am not a Senegalese. Should you stand then you would be on the wrong side of history. Africa, Africa, what is WRONG!

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+4 #3 2011-12-24 21:39

You Mr WAde and many other power hungriy leaders all over in Africa fail to understand that Africans/Africa need you as honorable statemen in our struggle to unite Africa.Honestly you don`t need to be in power to render any service for your people and the continent as well. Be an active stateman and may be the history may judge you better.

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+3 #2 2011-12-23 19:31

I agree Bakary. I think Mam Lie Njomborr should step aside and be Mambouy.

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+5 #1 2011-12-23 19:20

President Wade, no matter what he has achieved as president of Senegal, needs to accept that the peace and stability of Senegal and our sub-region is more important than his ego. At 85 the best thing he can do is simply resign his decision to run again.

Best for him, his party, his country, the sub-region and Africa, but most importantly his family.

Former president Obasanjo has said this, and we see it happening again and again: The culture of psycophancy is the biggest threat to Africa's future and democracy. For whatever reason, people keep telling political leaders what they want to hear, not what they need to hear.

Africa needs Wade as an elderly statesman, an important figure. Not as a power hungry octogenarian who's love for power, for whatever reason, costs his country lost of human lives.

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