Later this month, the political dust will eventually settle in Senegal as to who would lead the West African state for the next seven years. Would it be the current president, Abdoulaye Wade or the vibrant and youngest opposition candidate, Mack Sall? As with all cases of political nature, it will squarely be up to Senegalese voters to decide in the runoff.
What are however clear so far is that the opposition parties have the rare opportunity to gain or miss the chances that have deluded them over the past 12 years. They have waged unsuccessful battles to put President Wade out of political business but their main defeat has been disunity.
All of them wanted to lead and instead of mounting a united opposition, majority of them had wanted the entire loaf.
This has led to mixed signals and conflicting messages to the voters who were mostly keen on bread-and-butter issues and to realise that the currency in their pockets, handbags and wallets reflected in prices of consumer goods in the market.
The question being posed on the streets of Dakar, the Senegalese capital, these days is whether the opposition parties would pull their sleeves to swell Mr. Sall’s chances to be ushered in as Senegal’s next president.
It is difficult at the moment at least to say that the opposition would give an all round support as there are no permanent friends but interests as far as politics are concerned.
Each of the opposition parties; if their manifestoes are anything to go by wants something to boost their present platform so it becomes hard bargaining especially for Mr. Sall if he hopes to outstage President Wade. After all, Mr. Wade would have little to lose in dangling juicy fruits to the weakest link in the chain.
Known to be both shrewd and crafty, Mr. Wade knows the political environment of his country extremely well, having served as opposition leader for decades, contested elections for the presidency without success and eventually walking into State House after two elections. Besides the opposition parties and their leaders are no new comers to Mr. Wade. Some of them, including Mr. Sall had served in the cabinet of Mr. Wade who see them as defectors. He knows that if spoken to in the right language and palms greased, some of them can tilt to his side and hurriedly bury the hatchet.
It is this feeling that the opposition parties should draw the red pencil across and decide whether they will give a full and an unflinching support to Mr. Sall’s bid.
For Sall however, it is still an uphill task to woo all opposition parties to his nest. Many will be demanding high payoffs for their support. Few will be willing to be told that there will not be a general sharing of the cake if he wins the second round. Their patience, though understandable must be put on hold for awhile.
If Sall goes through, he would have to satisfy the demands of his party members too, many of whom are reportedly tired of being shouldered to the sideline. So here lies the crunch. There would be pitched battles for creamy cabinet positions as Foreign, Finance, Trade and Information Ministers to be filled by loyalists. Opposition parties would feel betrayed if some of these positions are not passed on to them.
So despite the first inconclusive round of the election, the problem still remains as to where next Senegal is heading to.
The first round has succeeded in identifying the two key players in the country’s political lifeline, but it is now at the stage of an non-admirable stance as the wrong foot forward can send it crashing, putting the nation on skate. Many blamed the opposition parties for creating the mess by overcrowding the presidential contest. What is even in the contest is that both candidates know the breathing of each other, strengths and weaknesses and where each can make inroads in each other’s campaign strategy.
The danger of Wade’s victory is that he would be in a position to push through some contentious acts in the government’s plans. Clogged in all this can be pushing in his son, Karim Wade to the highest pinnacle including pitch-forking him into a newly created post of vice president.
The endgame however rests on the Senegalese voters who would have to endure several years of rule under a government of whosoever would win.
By Rod Mac-Johnson
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