Wade dominates Senegalese poll
2007-08-28 21:19
Dakar - Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade's ruling party won all but one seat in the West African country's senate in polls this month which were boycotted by the opposition, according to official results announced on Tuesday.
The ruling Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) took 34 of the
35 seats in the August 19 polls for the upper house of parliament with the other seat going to an allied party.
The remaining 65 senators are appointed directly by Wade.
Wade's dominance in the upper house comes after he won a new
five-year term in February in polls the opposition said were
rigged.
The Siggil Senegal (Stand Up Senegal) opposition group also boycotted parliamentary elections in June.
'Personalised style of governance'
The former French colony is the only country in West Africa
other than the Cape Verde Islands never to have experienced a
coup and has long been held up as a beacon of stability.
But opposition fears are growing that octogenarian Wade, who
is widely respected abroad, is becoming increasingly autocratic.
"Controversially, 65 members of the senate are appointed by
Wade himself, fuelling the argument that the president is engineering a personalised style of governance," Kissy Agyeman,
Africa analyst with research group Global Insight, said.
The senate was abolished in 2001, a year after Wade won
power, because he said it would save money. But he pushed
through reform this year to re-create the upper house, saying it
would improve democracy.
The opposition has branded the new senate "useless and
anti-democratic". The senate has the power to reject draft
legislation already passed by the parliament.
The speaker of the upper house is a politically sensitive
post because, under the constitution, he would assume the presidency if Wade is incapacitated.