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"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource."
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[Senegal:] Disturbing the peace
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| Parent(s) |
Race
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| Contributor | Patrick |
| Last Edited | Patrick Feb 18, 2007 04:43pm |
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| Category | Analysis |
| News Date | Sunday, February 18, 2007 10:40:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Senegal, a country whose population is 90% Muslim, is one of the Islamic world's most peaceful and democratic countries. This tranquillity has been helped by the elaborate "rituals of respect" that have developed between the secular state and the Sufi orders, and the excellent relations between the country's Muslim majority and the Catholic minority at all levels of society.
The secular state and religious groups have cooperated on Aids prevention - to the extent Aids affects only about 1% of the population, compared to more than 20% in some African countries. The secular state, supported by feminist groups and some transnational non-governmental organisations, banned female genital mutilation in 1999, without triggering massive Muslim protests.
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Yet, despite all these positive developments, Senegal's unusual democracy is imperilled. The reasons have nothing to do with the rise of political Islam, but everything to with poor electoral practices by elected incumbents and international indifference.
The current president, Abdoulaye Wade, who is over 80 years old, is running for re-election on February 25. Wade has substantial international prestige, because he led the final phase of the country's long democratic transition in 2000. But Wade postponed legislative elections, originally scheduled for June 2006, first to February 2007, and later, by presidential decree, to June 2007. Two weeks ago there were almost daily discussions about the possibility of the presidential elections being postponed indefinitely.
It now appears that there will be a presidential election, but will it be fair? A month before the election, only 64% of citizens who had registered had received their voting cards. On January 28, a peaceful but "unauthorised" demonstration by opposition parties was brutally repressed by the police and three presidential candidates were arrested for the day. None of this was shown on television. |
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