A-Wade's slam dunk

By Michael J.W. Stickings

I'm sure you've all been following this closely, but the results of Senegal's presidential election are finally in:

Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade won re-election for a second term in Sunday's election, the country's electoral commission has said.

It said that President Wade, aged 81, won more than 50% of the votes cast, making a run-off unnecessary. [He won 55.86% of the vote. His two closest rivals, a former prime minister and a socialist, received just 14.93% and 13.57%, respectively.]

The results must still be reviewed and confirmed by the Senegalese Constitutional Council.

Opposition parties have said they have evidence of fraud and may challenge Mr Wade's victory.

Ah, yes, fraud. What would a corrupt developing-world "democracy" be without it? This election may have been no exception.

I was going to write more on the state of Senegalese politics, but instead I'll turn it over to a good Q&A at the BBC, as well as to the useful entry at Wikipedia.