SENEGAL: Vote-counting is underway after the country's tight presidential race between President Abdoulaye Wade and opponent, Macky Sall

Record ID: 327744

  • Title: SENEGAL: Vote-counting is underway after the country's tight presidential race between President Abdoulaye Wade and opponent, Macky Sall
  • Date: 26th March 2012
  • Summary: POLLING STATION NUMBER 4, MAMADOU BAMBA MBAKHANE SCHOOL, DAKAR, SENEGAL (MARCH 25, 2012) (REUTERS) ELECTION WORKER TIPPING BALLOT PAPERS OUT OF BALLOT BOX SEALED BALLOT PAPERS ARRANGED ON TABLE ELECTION WORKERS TAKING BALLOT PAPERS OUT OF ENVELOPES VARIOUS OF VOTES BEING COUNTED PRESIDENT OF POLLING STATION, BIRANE CISS, WITH OBSERVER NEXT TO HIM VOTES BEING COUNTED (SOUNDBITE) (French) BIRANE CISS, PRESIDENT OF POLLING STATION, SAYING: "The vote went well, out of 798 voters on our list, 420 have voted. We have 418 valid ballot papers. Abdoulaye Wade obtained 98 votes, Macky Sall 319 votes." VARIOUS OF REPRESENTATIVE OF SENEGAL'S PRESIDENT ABDOULAYE WADE HOLDING HER HANDS TO HER FACE LIST OF RESULTS (SOUNDBITE) (French) ELHADJ SEIDOU NOUROU KANE, REPRESENTATIVE OF MACKY SALL, SAYING: "These are really the sort of results we were expecting, so it's not a big surprise, because all the indications, all the forecasts have us as the winner. Today we are really satisfied, more than satisfied in fact." RESULTS BEING POSTED ON WALL
  • Embargoed: 10th April 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Senegal, Senegal
  • Country: Senegal
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA7DQ17J8W2K14AJ66BUI6U8K2P
  • Story Text: Ballot papers were being counted in Senegal on Sunday (March 25) after the country voted in a run-off election pitting octogenarian President Abdoulaye Wade against former ally and prime minister Macky Sall.
    The 85-year-old Abdoulaye, was urged by the United States and France not to run, and his bid to extend his rule triggered deadly street riots in the normally peaceful country ahead of a February first round.
    But at a polling station at the Mamadou Bamba Mbakhane school in Dakar, where turnout was over 50 percent, election worker Birane Ciss said the day had passed off peacefully. He said in his area, Sall had won the vote.
    "The vote went well, out of 798 voters on our list, 420 have voted. We have 418 valid ballot papers. Abdoulaye Wade obtained 98 votes, Macky Sall 319 votes," he said.
    Elhadj Seidou Nourou Kane, a Sall representative observing the counting at the polling station said it was a result his side had been expecting.
    "It's not a big surprise, because all the indications, all the forecasts have us as the winner. Today we are really satisfied, more than satisfied in fact," he said.
    Wade fell short of a majority in the February 26 first round with 34.8 percent to Sall's 26.6 percent. The other first-round candidates have now united behind Sall, improving his chances.
    But Wade hopes to extend his 12-year-rule by winning votes from those who did not go to the polls in February and by courting religious leaders who wield a strong influence in the majority Muslim country.
    Both candidates have said they cannot envisage defeat in the run-off, paving the way for a possible dispute when results come in on Monday (March 26) or Tuesday (March 27), and a possible resumption of street protests.
    The election is the latest test for democracy in a region plagued by bloodshed and flawed polls, including Ivory Coast's which triggered a civil war last year.
    Senegal is also the only nation in mainland West Africa not to have experienced a coup since independence, but a putsch in neighbouring Mali last week has raised security fears and shown how quickly a strong democracy can unravel.
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