Senegal’s opposition on Wednesday prepared to contest preliminary poll results showing President Abdoulaye Wade had secured an easy re-election, while some voters wondered at his apparent first-round walkover.

Electoral authorities have yet to declare official results from Sunday’s ballot, but government sources say the octogenarian president has gained a convincing victory with around 55 percent after almost all votes have been counted.

Wade, who has ruled the small West African state since 2000, had made winning in the first round a rallying cry of his election campaign, which stressed the importance of continuity in one of Africa’s most stable democracies.

Leading opposition challengers, …

Today (25 february 2007) Senegal will hold presidential election on Sunday, when 15 candidates including incumbent President Abdoulaye Wade will run for a five-year mandate.

Four of the candidates are viewed as major competitors, namely Wade, former prime minister Idrissa Seck, Moustapha Niass, the first prime minister during Wade’s presidency, and Ousmane Tanor Dieng, leader of the Socialist Party.

One candidate needs to gain more than half of the votes to win outright in the first round of voting, according to the country’s election rules, otherwise a second round of polls will be held.

Wade, who is in his 80s, has expressed determination …