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Senegal's democracy at risk
15/06/2007 09:46 - (SA)
Dakar - An African rights body issued a warning on Thursday about democracy being eroded in Senegal following June 3 legislative elections marked by low turnout and an opposition boycott.
The warning from the Dakar-based African Assembly for the Defence of Human Rights (RADDHO) came as the west African country's constitutional court confirmed the landslide victory of parties allied to President Abdoulaye Wade.
RADDHO said there was a "highly impressive democratic retreat in Senegal, arising from the voter turnout rate in the legislative elections, which expresses on the surface, fiasco and massive discontent".
RADDHO warned that the poll outcome could lead to the "deregulation of institutions with the key objective not only to deepen and consolidate the ruling party's hold on power, but also to assure the control of process for the succession of the head of state".
Observers fear that Wade's camp victory based on a third of the country's eligible voters, will taint the parliament's legitimacy and risks turning a country known for its multi-party democracy, to a single-party assembly.
Voter turnout was placed at 34.75%, less than half of the 70% notched in the February presidential polls and the lowest recorded in Senegal.
For the first time since the country's first pluralist elections in 1978, the national assembly will make laws without facing any serious challenge from dissenting legislators.
A 17-party grouping, including most heavyweight opposition figures, boycotted the elections, among them former prime minister Idrissa Seck and Ousmane Tanor Dieng of the former ruling Socialist Party.
The European Union has urged all the political forces in Senegal to overcome their differences and renew dialogue to get over the various challenges the country faces.
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