Senegal’s legacy at stake as election clouds gather

For an African country considered a model of democracy, recent developments in Senegal have not exactly inspired confidence of the sort its Mbalax percussive music does.

This is the country that gave us the “poet president’ Léopold Sédar Senghor and which has for decades been a beacon of stability in a region beset by political volatility.

Senegal goes to the polls on February 26 and ordinarily electoral transitions in the country have tended to be bereft of the fuss and military rancour that has stalked neighbours such as Guinea and Guinea-Bissau.

Indeed, the country has never had a political coup and prides itself on its peaceful transfers of power; largely a legacy of Senghor’s African socialism ideology.

But this week a diplomat let on that a “very large” European Union observer mission was headed for Dakar.

"The delegation is very large because there is 'high risk' on the political landscape ahead of the polls,” France’s envoy to Senegal, Nicolas Norman, said on a private Dakar radio station.

The main source of political disquiet has been incumbent President Abdoulaye Wade’s intention to run for a third term.

The 85-year-old, in power since 2000, argues that he is technically allowed by the constitution to contest following a 2001 review of the presidential term limit to his disadvantage.

But the opposition to Wade’s bid has been unusually vociferous for a country traditionally viewed as docile, and clashes in late December between opposing supporters left one dead and several others injured.

Tinkering bid

In June last year, Wade’s failed attempt to tinker with the constitution to avoid a run-off while simultaneously grooming his son - or so it is believed - for the presidency left scores injured after violent riots erupted.

Former colonial power and erstwhile staunch backer France is known to be strongly opposed to a Wade candidacy while the US, UK and Canada have also made their discomfiture known.

But while the opposition seems both crowded and fractured, the refreshingly open presidential race was last week made even more interesting with the entrance into the fray of a marquee candidate.

Savvy musical icon Youssou N’Dour, the country’s most famous export, said that he had "caved in" to demands that he run.

The jury is well out as to whether the well-travelled star can convert adoring fans into voters, with musical peer and Ivorian star Alpha Blondy terming N’Dour's candidature as “courageous but dangerous”.

But continental watchers, already revelling in a clutch of a row of fairly decent elections held in western Africa last year, will be more concerned with whether Senegal can avoid a violent political fallout.

This remains uncertain, with Wade accused of bully tactics and his government of cracking down on potential rivals including through politically instigated arrests and trumped up charges.

The media have also complained of harassment, while civil society says their activities are being curtailed.

Wade’s rise to power in 2000 upon toppling Abdou Diouf was hailed as a landmark event due to the peaceful handover, but the consensus is that it is the events of the next few weeks that will determine his—and the country’s—legacy.