Elections

Every evening for the last 2 weeks, a convoy of cars (crammed with people hanging out of windows and sitting on the boot and the roof), has been travelling slowly past my office, behind a pick up truck with music blaring from speakers and someone on a megaphone shouting ferociously in Wolof. Behind the convoy is a string of people handing out leaflets, all in matching t-shirts with someone's face and a snappy slogan plastered across them.

This is local election time in Senegal; Dakar-style.

The current president, Abdullaye Wade or 'Le Vieux' (the old man) as he is known, is 85 and very unpopular. He won his second mandate in 2007 but this was hotly disputed. Normally when the election results are announced, people take to the streets spontaneously to celebrate. In 2007 for 3 days there was total silence. Even Wade himself did not mention the election results. It was as if he was waiting to see whether the public would come out and demonstrate against him and what was widely perceived as a rigged result. Senegal stayed calm however and Wade got himself another 7 years in power.

The population, already tired of him in 2007, have really had enough now. In my office, lunchtime chat invariably ends in heated political exchanges as people vent their frustration at his latest mess-up. Food prices have rocketed here as has the cost of petrol and gas, and although people recognise this is part of a global crisis, they do not accept Wade's unwillingness to do anything to support ordinary people, and the way he wastes money and removes people around him who do not agree with his policies. Lots of people have told me how Senegal used to be developing fast and a successful nation, but now it feels like it is falling behind.

Although the next presidential election is not till 2012, these local elections where people vote for their local mayor and the head of the region, are seen as an indication of the popularity of the President and his party. On Friday the papers were full of pictures of the President's son having stones thrown at him by an angry crowd as Wade wants to make his son the Mayor of the region of Dakar - a v influential position. People seem tired of his increasingly undemocratic ways and are ready for change.

So, today was election day and you could feel the sense of anticipation. Turnout for elections is high here. Streets were full of people with pink fingers. When you vote, you dip your little finger in bright pink dye to show that you have voted and to prevent people trying to vote more than once.

I was walking through an area known as Point E, which is where my office is based. Suddenly I heard sirens and the road was filled with police motorbikes and pick up trucks rammed with police in riot gear. Sandwiched between this heavily armed escort were 6 black Hummers, a black limo and 3 black Mercedes. The President and his son had arrived to vote.

I popped to a friend's house tonight and found him glued to the radio, as the results were drifting in from the different regions. They would announce the number of eligible voters in each local district; how many had actually voted; and then list the number of votes each party had won. District after district the result was the same: SOPI (the President's party) were losing, and not just slightly. They were being totally thrashed. Gana, my friend, could hardly contain his excitement and I found myself getting more and more nervous as I listened to the results and felt a flutter of excitement every time the opposition party came out on top. This is the second time in recent months I've been fascinated by foreign elections. Bizarre how I fail to get this enthusiastic about elections in my own country.

'This is a catastropy for Wade', Gana kept shouting. 'He can't ignore this. The people have spoken. They have turned their back on the President and are telling him loud and clear that they want change'. I've never seen Gana look so happy!

As they reached the results for Dakar, quartier after quartier was seized by the opposition - even Point E, where the President himself is from and where I saw him vote today, failed to be won by the current party.

The radio broadcasts in a mix of French and Wolof and suddenly there was a rapid announcement which I didn't understand but which made Gana jump up and start ranting.
'They are shutting the radio and tv stations' Gana explained. 'From tomorrow, all privatised radio and TV stations that haven't paid their advance will be forced to close'.

Apparently there are certain fees these stations have to pay. They are all usually late in paying, but then receive a bill reminder and at that stage they pay up. Yet the official broadcasting company suddenly announced that from tomorrow there would be no bill reminders; any company that is in arrears will have to shut down. Given that the media is broadcasting the election results direct into people's homes, which makes it much much harder for the results to be tampered with; and given the seeming opposition landslide victory which will naturally spark debates on the competence of the President, it is quite convenient that from tomorrow there will be nowhere for these debates to be held in public.

Just a coincidence? Hmm.

The radio broadcasters were threatening to ignore this government demand and open anyway. I asked Gana what would happen if they did: 'The police will come down hard on those that do open, but the public won't have it. Everyone is listening to the radio now. People won't stand for it. There will be demonstrations.'

We'll see what tomorrow brings. I'll be tuning in when I wake up, hoping to hear the radio on air and hoping for an official opposition victory. One thing for certain though, lunchtime in the office tomorrow will definitely be a lively affair!