The recent peaceful election handover in Senegal, from the 40 years long socialist reign to the opposition is certainly an opportune step for democratization of the african continent, plagued by fraudulent balloting, coups and civil wars.
Yet ...

The recent peaceful election handover in Senegal, from the 40 years long socialist reign to the opposition is certainly an opportune step for democratization of the african continent, plagued by fraudulent balloting, coups and civil wars.
Yet, it doesn't deserve being applauded as a 'deep-rooted' democratic example of whole Africa. Senegal's reputation for democracy and political stability, based on the simple fact that it has never had a military coup or revolution and introduced multi-party politics before most of Africa, was also based upon the corruption and cronyism of the Socialists who ruled the country since independence under a de facto one-party system, marred with social disturbances, monopoly of campaign facilities and election anomalies of all kinds.
As it was the mass power of marginalized poor voters claiming a mere "Sopi (change)" that enabled - the vote featuring a battle of personalities, with little emphasis on policy or ideology - the 'unthinkable' transition, the economic hardship of Senegal, one of the world's poorest country with few natural resources, doesn’t seem to be softened sooner or later : as far as the crisis of distribution persists, sometimes even worsening by the presence of country's corrupt bureaucracy, the prospect of a genuine democracy also remains unimaginable.

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The recent peaceful election handover to the opposition in Senegal, after 40 years of socialist reign is certainly an opportune step for the democratization of the african continent, plagued by fraudulent balloting, coups and civil wars. Yet, it doesn ...

The recent peaceful election handover to the opposition in Senegal, after 40 years of socialist reign is certainly an opportune step for the democratization of the african continent, plagued by fraudulent balloting, coups and civil wars. Yet, it doesn't deserve being applauded as a 'deep-rooted' democratic example for the whole of Africa. Senegal's reputation for democracy and political stability, based on the simple fact that it has never had a military coup or revolution and introduced multi-party politics before most of Africa, was also based upon the corruption and cronyism of the Socialists who had ruled the country since independence under a de facto one-party system, marred with social disturbances, monopoly of campaign facilities and election anomalies of all kinds.
As it was the mass power of marginalized poor voters claiming a mere "Sopi (change)" that enabled the 'unthinkable' transition - the vote featuring a battle of personalities, with little emphasis on policy or ideology - the economic hardship of Senegal, a poor country with few natural resources, won’t be softened before long : as far as the crisis of distribution persists, sometimes even worsening by the presence of a corrupt bureaucracy, the prospect of a genuine democracy also remains unimaginable.