Senegal soldiers, police vote ahead of polls, AU mediator arrives
Senegalese military and para-military forces are voting for the second and final day on Sunday, ahead of civilians in the February 26 presidential election.
Electoral officials say the military and para-military forces are casting their ballot this weekend, in order to allow them focus on ensuring peace and order during the conduct of the polls.
Fourteen candidates, including incumbent President Abdoulaye Wade and two women, are contesting this month’s presidential election.
Amid street protest and pre-election violence in Senegal, the African Union and the sub-regional bloc, ECOWAS have dispatched a special envoy, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo to the West African nation to hold talks with incumbent President Abdoulaye Wade and the other candidates.
Wade is contesting next weekend’s polls against 13 other candidates, three of whom used to be Prime Ministers under him---Idrissa Seck, Macky Sall and Moustapha Niass.
They are all are resisting his third term bid.
The decision of the two organizations to send a special comes over a weekend which has been seeing continuing clashes between protesters from the M23 Movement—a coalition of opposition and civil society groups---and Senegalese police.
The AU and ECOWAS on Friday jointly agreed to send former Nigerian President Obasanjo to Dakar, in a bid to persuade the candidates for the upcoming polls, to hold peaceful and transparent elections.
Pre-election violence, which had resulted into deaths and injuries, has triggered concerns amongst many people, including election observers.
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