The campaign will be hard fought and among those preparing to challenge President Abdou Diouf are the old bruiser Abdoulaye Wade (freshened up after a long break in Versailles with his French wife Viviane) who is Secretary General of the Parti Démocratique Sénégalais and two rebels from the ruling Parti Socialiste: Djibo Kâ of the Union pour le Renouveau Démocratique and former Foreign Minister Moustapha Niasse of the Alliance des Forces du Progrès one of Senegal's more charismatic politicians...
The main opposition party Abdoulaye Wade's Parti Démocratique Sénégalais (PDS) wants the immediate withdrawal of the troops saying they have been sidelined by the 27 July ceasefire brokered by the world's six other Portuguesespeaking states thereby adding political failure to the military one...
The opposition parties' leading figure is still Maître Abdoulaye Wade of the PDS aged 71...
His nearest rival Abdoulaye Wade of the Parti Démocratique Sénégalais is seven years older; he rails against Diouf's rule then takes a job in his government...
