02/25/2007
Senegalese began voting on Sunday in an election which President Abdoulaye Wade hopes will extend his rule for five more years in one of Africa's most stable democracies.
Wade, who has governed the coastal West African state since 2000, predicts he can win the poll in the first round, but his 14 challengers, including former allies, say this will not be possible without fraud.
They say they will dispute any first round victory by the octogenarian president, raising fears of political unrest in one of the rare West African countries not to have experienced a coup since its independence in 1960.
"I came to vote early because there might be some problems later in the morning. Because those who are in power have done everything possible to stay there even if an important majority want them to go," said Amadou Ndiaye, 57, a goods handler, as he cast his ballot in the capital Dakar.
As polling stations opened, long queues formed outside some in the oceanside city. Initial results are expected from Monday.
Some five million voters were registered to cast their ballots in schools, civic centres and public buildings across the former French colony on Africa's western-most tip.
The predominantly Muslim nation of nearly 12 million people, who live mostly from farming and fishing, extends from the edges of the Sahara desert in the north to the forests of its south Casamance province, where separatists fight a low-intensity war.
Wade has told supporters he is certain to take more than 50 percent of the votes, saying there will be no need for a second round. Some of his challengers accuse him of intending to cheat.
Wade's election in 2000 ended four decades of socialist rule. An economic liberal, he argues he has boosted Senegal's reputation as a stable democracy in a troubled region.
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