Senegal’s prime minister has claimed that President Macky Sall was re-elected in a first round vote on Sunday, hours after the opposition suggested that no candidate had won an outright majority.

Prime Minister Mahammed Boun Abdallah Dionne, a Sall ally, claimed at midnight that president had won 13 out of 14 regions with “at least 57 percent” of the vote.

“The results allow us to say that we should congratulate President Macky Sall on his re-election,” he said.

Opposition candidates Ousmane Sonko and Idrissa Seck had said that a second round of voting was possible based on preliminary results.

“At the current state of the vote count, no candidate, I say no candidate, including myself, can claim to have won the presidential election,” Sonko said.

Sall had been favored to win the election on the back of strong economic growth. The 57-year-old had pledged to introduce universal health care and expand education in the West African country.

However, critics have accused Sall of sidelining political opponents.

His strongest rivals, Khalifa Sall and Abdoulaye Wade, were banned from running in the presidential race after being accused of corruption. Both have dismissed the charges as politically motivated.

Senegal has been considered the most stable democracy in the region since it became independent in 1960.

Official results are due by Friday at the latest. If no candidate wins outright, a second round of voting is scheduled to take place on March 24.

Presstv

Senegal went to the polls Sunday in an election that incumbent President Macky Sall is tipped to win after his main challengers were banned from running.

His two biggest rivals in the first-round vote in the West African nation — popular former Dakar mayor Khalifa Sall and Karim Wade, the son of the previous president — were disqualified after corruption convictions in trials questioned by rights groups.

People queued in large numbers as the polling station opened at Fatick in the center of the country, where Sall, 56, cast his ballot, as well as at Thies in the west, AFP reporters said.

But the start of voting was delayed at Grand-Yoff, the stronghold of Khalifa Sall.

“I want to get home as soon as possible, I’m frightened there will be violence on election day,” said 25-year-old voter Fatoumata Sall.

“I hope this election goes off peacefully and that tomorrow everyone will be going about their business — that will mean a peaceful vote,” said accountant Lamine Diatta after he cast his ballot in Dakar.

President Sall, a former geologist who first took the presidency in 2012 after beating his former political mentor Wade, campaigned for a second term pitching his “Emerging Senegal” infrastructure project to boost economic growth.

“Victory in the first round is indisputable,” Sall told a recent Dakar campaign rally, seeking to emulate all three of his predecessors by landing a second term — Abdoulaye Wade needed just one round in 2007 to secure his second term.

Often held up as a model of stability in Africa, Senegal has enjoyed strong growth. The Muslim-majority country has largely escaped the militant attacks that destabilized neighbors such as Mali.

Sall made infrastructure a priority, including a new airport, motorways, and a rail link. But basic services, healthcare, and education often remain inadequate, sometimes triggering strikes and protests.

Sall faces competition from four lesser-known rivals who campaigned hard against his plans for a second phase of his project, which critics see as a waste of taxpayers’ money and a potential debt burden.

His rivals are former prime minister Idrissa Seck, Issa Sall of the Unity and Assembly Party (PUR), former justice and foreign minister Madicke Niang, and tax inspector-turned MP Ousman Sonko.

The five-horse race leaves voters with a limited choice compared to 2012, when 14 candidates vied for the top post, and 2007, when 15 battled it out for the presidency.

Preliminary results were expected soon after polling closes at 1800 GMT on Sunday, but will only become official a day or two later.

Some 6.7 million in a population of around 16 million are registered to vote in a country which gained independence from France in 1960.

‘Lack of independence’

A candidate must get more than 50 percent to prevent a second-round runoff.

If no one wins more than half the ballots, a second vote is provisionally scheduled for March 24. The exact timing will be determined by how long it takes to officially proclaim the first-round results, and whether there is a challenge.

A new system approved by parliament last year despite opposition party challenges requires candidates to demonstrate they have the support of a minimum number of citizens and regions.

Once the new regulations were applied, only seven candidates made the cut, two of whom were then disqualified. Both Khalifa Sall and Karim Wade have claimed their criminal convictions were engineered to rule them out of the race.

Supporters of the convicted men staged demonstrations, while rights group Amnesty International spotlighted “unfair trials” in Senegal, and a “lack of independence” by the judiciary in Khalifa Sall’s case.

Senegal has known two peaceful power transfers in 2000 and 2012, and no coups. But election campaigns are often marred by charges of corruption, disinformation, and sometimes violence.

Recent clashes between supporters of rival parties left two dead at Tambacounda, 420 kilometers east of the capital.

Authorities also reinforced security and legislation, sometimes at the cost of freedom, according to rights groups.

Officials said 8,000 police were on duty in urban areas alongside an undetermined number of civilian security staff. The interior ministry said some 5,000 observers — including 900 from abroad — were monitoring proceedings.

Opposition rallies have recently been banned and pre-trial detention for people suspected of “terrorism” extended from 48 hours to 12 days.

(Source: AFP)

Sudan’s Defense Minister Awad Mohamed Ahmed Ibn Auf has been appointed as the first vice president of the country.

Ibn Auf will take office while remaining as the defense minister, the presidency announced on Saturday, adding that Mohamed Tahir Ayala, the governor of Gezira state, is to be appointed as the new prime minister.

The new appointments came after President Omar al-Bashir declared a one-year nationwide state of emergency on Friday.

Bashir, who has set up a caretaker administration, has replaced all the state governors with military officials.

The country’s dire economic situation has prompted protesters to take part in mass anti-government demonstrations in the past months.

The protests started after food and fuel prices increased and shortages started to plague the country.

The anti-government protesters demand an end to the decades-long rule of Bashir over the country.

Witnesses say police have used live munition to disperse the protesters in some cases.

Earlier this month, Ibn Auf, who previously served as the head of the military intelligence, made an effort to ease tensions by saying that the younger population who participated in the recent protests had “reasonable ambition.”

In November, Bashir said he would support Ayala in the 2020 presidential election if he decided to run.

Presstv

Algeria’s ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is to seek a fifth term in April elections, state media announced Sunday, despite health issues that have kept him largely out of the public eye for years.

The 81-year-old head of state, in power since 1999, declared his widely expected candidacy in a message to the nation that Algeria’s official APS news agency said it would release later the same day.

The president said he would set up an “inclusive national conference” to address “political, economic, and social” issues and “propose an enrichment of the constitution,” APS reported.

Bouteflika, who uses a wheelchair and has rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013, had remained quiet about whether he would be a candidate in the lead-up to the April 18 poll.

The country’s ruling coalition — which includes the president’s National Liberation Front — lent its backing to Bouteflika earlier this month.

Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia has said Bouteflika’s health was not “an obstacle” to performing presidential duties.

Retired General Ali Ghediri, 64, was the first to announce his candidacy after the presidency set the election date.

The Movement for the Society of Peace Party will also take part, backing its candidate Abderrazak Makri. It has said Bouteflika would be unable to handle the demands of another term in office because of ill health.

The country’s oldest opposition party, the Front of Socialist Forces, announced on January 25 that it would not field a candidate and called for an “active, intensive, and peaceful boycott.”

(Source: AFP)

Felix Tshisekedi is to be sworn in on Thursday as president of Democratic Republic of Congo, marking the country’s first-ever peaceful handover of power after chaotic and bitterly-disputed elections. At 55, opposition leader Tshisekedi takes over from Joseph Kabila who is stepping aside after 18 years at the helm of sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest country.

The inauguration will take place at the Palace of the Nation, the seat of the presidency, at noon (1100 GMT), aides to Tshisekedi and Kabila said on Wednesday.

One of Tshisekedi’s first tasks will be to appoint a prime minister in a move which will see him sharing power with Kabila’s supporters, who hold an overwhelming majority in parliament.

The ceremony caps more than two years of turmoil sparked by Kabila’s refusal to step down when he reached the constitutional limit on his term in office.

Turbulence

A country the size of continental western Europe, DR Congo has lived through two regional wars in 1996-97 and 1998-2003.

The last two presidential elections, in 2006 and 2011 — both of which were won by Kabila — were marred by bloody clashes.

The ballot, which took place on December 30 after being delayed three times, surprised many by the lack of violence, but a political storm swiftly brewed over the count.

Tshisekedi was declared winner with 38.5 percent of the vote, over his opposition rival Martin Fayulu, who was credited with 34.8 percent.

Fayulu branded the result a fix but lost a challenge to the Constitutional Court and foreign support for his position ebbed as countries took comfort in a peaceful transition.

“The opposition has run out of recourse to challenge the election results and the threat of widespread post-election violence is gradually subsiding,” said Robert Besseling of EXX Africa, a business risk consultancy.

Many challenges

Tshisekedi heads the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), DR Congo’s oldest and largest opposition party, which was founded and led by his father Etienne.

Analysts say he faces a raft of pressing problems after taking the oath of office. He must defuse the anger of Fayulu’s supporters, carry out his campaign pledge of ending the “gangrene” of corruption after the Kabila era, and forge a power-sharing arrangement with the outgoing president’s bloc.

The pro-Kabila Joint Front for Congo (FCC), controls 337 seats in the 500-member National Assembly against 102 for Fayulu’s coalition, Lamuka, and 46 for his own coalition, Heading for Change (Cach).

“Tshisekedi will have little margin for manoeuvre,” said Stephanie Wolters at South Africa’s Institute for Security Studies (ISS) think tank.

According to a “political coalition agreement” seen by AFP which outlines an arrangement for “power-sharing” between the FCC and Cach, the position of prime minister “will be rotated every five years.”

And the defence, foreign affairs and interior portfolios will go to “the president’s political family”.

Kabila himself will become a senator for life, a position reserved for outgoing presidents under the constitution, but he is widely expected to wield influence through his supporters. His family has acquired a wide range of assets during the many years in power.

Kabila congratulated Tshisekedi on the eve of his inauguration, saying he will hand over power to his successor “without regret or remorse”.

In his first speech since the election, Kabila said Tshisekedi can count on him “whenever he wants” and called for a “grand coalition of all the progressive forces”.

“A coalition against the predatory forces that have come together and will always try to join forces to monopolise our natural resources,” he said.

Conflict and poverty

Beyond the politics, Tsishekedi also has to deal with the brutal militias who control parts of the country’s strife-torn east where an Ebola epidemic is also unfolding.

He also has to meet the expectations of his supporters about easing poverty, which afflicts the vast majority of the country’s 80 million citizens.

Despite the poverty, DR Congo boasts a treasure trove of minerals, ranging from gold and diamonds to copper and coltan — a mineral essential for the batteries used in hand-held electronic devices.

Yet, in a country where graft is entrenched, very little of the wealth trickles down to the poor. It ranks a mere 176th on the 189-nation Human Development Index compiled by the United Nations’ Development Programme (UNDP).

(AFP)

DR Congo’s top court on Sunday declared opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi the winner of disputed presidential elections after throwing out a legal challenge by the runner-up.

Announcing the final results of the long awaited poll, the Constitutional Court said Tshisekedi had won by a simple majority, paving the way for him to take over from longterm leader Joseph Kabila in an official ceremony on Tuesday.

Runner-up Martin Fayulu immediately called on the international community to reject the results, after the court said his appeal was “unfounded”.

“I ask the entire international community not to recognise a power that has neither legitimacy nor legal standing to represent the Congolese people,” he said of Tshisekedi, declaring himself “the only legitimate president”.

Inspired by

Tshisekedi’s victory was first announced earlier this month based on provisional results by the Independent National Election Commission (CENI) but it was challenged both at home and abroad, with the African Union appealing for the final results to be delayed.

On Sunday, the Consitutional Court said Fayulu had failed to prove any inaccuracies. “Only the CENI has produced authentic and sincere results,” judge Noel Kilomba said.

Hundreds of supporters of Tshisekedi had gathered outside the court holding placards saying “No to interference” and “Independent country” as riot police stood nearby.

‘Not their business’

The election commission announced on January 10 that Tshisekedi had provisionally won with 38.57 percent of the vote against Fayulu’s 34.8 percent.

Fayulu denounced the figures as an “electoral coup” forged by Tshisekedi and Kabila, and filed an appeal with the Constitutional Court.

At a summit on Thursday, AU leaders said there were “serious doubts” about the vote’s provisional results and called for the announcement of the final results to be suspended.

But DR Congo government spokesman Lambert Mende had snubbed the demand, saying: “I don’t think it is the business of the government or even of the African Union to tell the court what it should do.”

The AU also announced that its commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamat and Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, currently the AU chairman, were expected to fly to DR Congo on Monday.

The European Union said it joined the AU in inviting “all the Congolese players to work constructively with this (AU) delegation to find a post-electoral solution which respects the Congolese people’s vote”.

Appeal

The Financial Times and other foreign media have reported seeing documents that confirm Fayulu as the winner.

“If the court declares Tshisekedi victor, the risk of isolation would be enormous and untenable for a country positioned right in the middle of the continent,” Adeline Van Houtte of the Economist Intelligence Unit wrote on Twitter.

Fayulu’s camp had hailed the AU appeal for the final result to be put on hold, but Tshisekedi’s entourage branded it “scandalous”.

The dispute has raised fears that the political crisis that began when Kabila refused to step down at the end of his constitutional term in office two years ago, could turn into a bloodbath. The vast and chronically unstable country lived through two regional wars in 1996-97 and 1998-2003, and the previous two elections, in 2006 and 2011, were marred by bloody clashes.

The AU has taken the firmest line of all major international bodies with regard to the post-election crisis. The Southern African Development Community (SADC), a bloc that includes Angola and South Africa, initially called for a recount and a unity government.

But in a later communique, it made no mention of those demands, instead calling on Congolese politicians to “address any electoral grievances in line with the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Constitution and relevant electoral laws”.

(AFP)

Gabon’s President Ali Bongo, who has been out of the country for two months recovering from a stroke, named a new prime minister on Saturday in an apparent effort to shore up his political base days after a failed coup attempt.

The plotters of Monday’s coup attempt were arrested or killed within hours of seizing the national radio station, but the move reflected growing frustration with a government weakened by Bongo’s secretive medical leave in Morocco.

In a decree read by the secretary-general of the presidency on national television early on Saturday morning, Bongo named Julien Nkoghe Bekale as prime minister, replacing Emmanuel Issoze-Ngondet, who has served since 2016.

Issoze-Ngondet’s tenure was marked by a sharp drop in oil output and prices that has squeezed revenues, raised debt and stoked discontent in the OPEC member state.

Oil workers’ strikes have become more common, and economic growth was 2 percent last year, down from over 7 percent in 2011.

The nomination of Nkoghe Bekale, 56, who has held several ministerial posts since 2009, represents a return to a tradition begun by Bongo’s father, Omar, of choosing prime ministers from the Fang, Gabon’s largest ethnic group.

Omar Bongo ruled Gabon from 1967 until his death in 2009, establishing the country as a pillar of “Francafrique,” a web of influence that gave companies from former colonial power France favored access to African autocrats.

The Bongos come from a smaller ethnic group, and the appointments were a way of broadening the president’s base. But Ali Bongo, who succeeded his father when he died, bucked tradition in 2016 by choosing Issoze-Ngondet, who comes from a different ethnic group.

Bongo’s absence from Gabon since his Oct. 24 stroke in Saudi Arabia has raised questions about his ability to continue carrying out his official functions, although the government has insisted he is recovering well.

A Dec. 31 address from Morocco in which the 59-year-old president slurred his speech and appeared unable to move his right arm failed to reassure many Gabonese and was cited as one of the coup plotters’ reasons for acting.

Bongo won re-election in 2016 by fewer than 6,000 votes amid widespread accusations of fraud, sparking deadly clashes between protesters and police during which the parliament was torched.

(Source: Reuters)

DR Congo’s powerful Catholic Church says election results tallied by its observers do not match official results announced on Thursday by the country’s election commission, which named Felix Tshisekedi as the surprise winner.

In a pre-dawn announcement, the election commission named Tshisekedi, son of the country’s late veteran opposition leader, as provisional winner of the bitterly-contested December 30 vote – a surprise result his main opponent promptly denounced as an “electoral coup”.

Just hours later, the Church said election results tallied by its 40,000 observers scattered across the country showed a different winner, without specifying who.

“We see that the result of the presidential election as published by CENI (the electoral commission) does not correspond with the data collected by our observer mission from polling stations and counting centres,” said Father Donatien Nshole, spokesman for the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO), which represents the country’s Catholic bishops.

At stake is political stewardship of the notoriously unstable central African nation which has never known a peaceful transition of power since independence from Belgium in 1960. Runner-up Martin Fayulu, the pre-election favourite, said the results announced on Thursday do “not reflect the truth of the ballots”, urging the Congolese to “rise as one man to protect victory”.

In an unusually blunt comment on a foreign election, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian also waded into the controversy, describing the results as “not consistent” with observers’ reports. He added: “The Catholic Church of Congo did its tally and announced completely different results.”

Last week CENCO called on the election commission to publish results “in keeping with truth and justice”, adding that data in its possession pointed to a clear winner. The United States on Thursday demanded “clarification” over the result, stopping short of recognising Tshisekedi as the winner.

“The National Independent Electoral Commission has announced provisional results, but we await clarification of questions which have been raised regarding the electoral count… We urge all stakeholders to remain calm as the process continues,” State Department deputy spokesman Robert Palladino said in a statement.

The last two elections in 2006 and 2011, both of which were won by incumbent Joseph Kabila, were marred by bloodshed, and many fear a repeat of the violence if there is any sense the result has been fixed.

The Catholic Church has long been pressing for the departure of Kabila, who has ruled the country with an iron fist since 2001 and who has stayed in power as caretaker leader even though his second and final elected term ended in December 2016.

(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS, AFP)