Publications
Dakar - Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade's former chief of staff announced on Monday she will challenge her ex-boss in February 2012 presidential elections.
"You want me to herald a revolution in Senegal's political history by realising the principle of parity with a candidacy for the 2012 presidential poll? Well I accept," Aminata Tall said.
The 62-year-old - who made the announcement to supporters late on Sunday in a speech sent to the media on Monday - founded her own party to support her bid and called it Synergy for Ethics and Transparency.
Tall said the hopes held when Wade took power in 2000 after four decades of socialist rule, "had turned to disappointment, despair and regrets."
She was a minister under Wade several times and served as his chief of staff from 2009 and 2010, before falling out with the veteran president.
Tall now accuses the 85-year-old of having established "an oligarchy blinded by obsolete doctrines" and bringing the west African country to the brink.
In July, she took part in a large rally in Dakar that brought together many opposition parties, former Wade aides and civil society organisations demanding the president step down at the end of his second term.
Wade was elected for a first seven-year term in 2000 and re-elected for five years in 2007, after a constitutional amendment reduced the mandate by two years and imposed a limit of two terms.
He has since said he will seek another term, his supporters arguing that the two-term limit only came into play after the change in the law.
"You want me to herald a revolution in Senegal's political history by realising the principle of parity with a candidacy for the 2012 presidential poll? Well I accept," Aminata Tall said.
The 62-year-old - who made the announcement to supporters late on Sunday in a speech sent to the media on Monday - founded her own party to support her bid and called it Synergy for Ethics and Transparency.
Tall said the hopes held when Wade took power in 2000 after four decades of socialist rule, "had turned to disappointment, despair and regrets."
She was a minister under Wade several times and served as his chief of staff from 2009 and 2010, before falling out with the veteran president.
Tall now accuses the 85-year-old of having established "an oligarchy blinded by obsolete doctrines" and bringing the west African country to the brink.
In July, she took part in a large rally in Dakar that brought together many opposition parties, former Wade aides and civil society organisations demanding the president step down at the end of his second term.
Wade was elected for a first seven-year term in 2000 and re-elected for five years in 2007, after a constitutional amendment reduced the mandate by two years and imposed a limit of two terms.
He has since said he will seek another term, his supporters arguing that the two-term limit only came into play after the change in the law.
