Y En A Marre

So the Senegalese people have really had enough. In the midst of the Jasmine Revolution (I think that's what it's been called, right?) in the Arab world, the Senegalese president Son Excellence Maître Abdoulaye Wade has been asked to leave office. This will not and probably should not happen yet, but he is, quite simply, ridiculous. This is his second term, and earlier in his presidency he changed the constitution so that he could run a third time. People were scared of this, and that he would impose his son Karim Wade as president.

He then tried to pass an election law saying that, if the incumbent won at least 25% of the vote in the first round of the presidential election, he would win another term. A quarter of the population! Luckily this was rejected, because a quarter of the country can't elect a president.

The other day, June 23, 2011, he tried to introduce a law to the Senegalese parliament to add a vice president post. People got angry, for a number of reasons. First of all, Senegal already has a prime minister, which, although this title doesn't mean much in this country it seems, makes a vice president unnecessary. Adding a vice president into the mix this late into the campaign (the election is in February) means that all the other parties would have to find suitable vice presidential candidates. Also, it would be another unnecessary, overpaid government post from a political party that spends too much money in order to look like big men.

The opposition walked out of parliament, and people began to riot in the streets. Opposition youth demonstrated, followed in turn by Wade supporters. It's hard to tell who did what, but some buildings were ransacked, cars flipped and burnt, stones thrown, and riot police in a good part of downtown Dakar. Wade repealed the law, which is more or less the end of respect for him as a president. Still, there are some of his hardcore PDS supporters who yelled things like "We're with Wade until the death!" Some famous imams have predicted blood during the election. I hope not.