20120228
AFP
Senegal's veteran leader Abdoulaye Wade conceded Monday he may face a run-off poll as early results suggest voters denied him a first round win in his contentious bid for a third term.

The 85-year-old leader previously vowed to win a crushing first round victory in an election marred by deadly riots over his candidacy, putting the west African nation's reputation as a haven of stability on the line.

However Wade remained defiant, saying a first round win was still possible, despite unofficial results that gave him 32.17 percent, with his closest challenger at 25.24 percent.

"Everything is thus possible, victory or a second round of voting," the president said.

The early results showed a tight race between the incumbent and his former protege, ex-prime minister Macky Sall, 50, who is running in his first election.

The United States' top Africa diplomat Johnnie Carson said "early results indicate that a second round of voting is highly likely", urging political leaders and their supporters to respect the results.

With half the votes counted, the tallies appeared to indicate a humiliating blow for the under-fire Wade, who was roundly booed as he cast his ballot on Sunday and was trounced in his home polling station.

Wade is seeking a third term in office after circumventing a two-term limit he introduced into the constitution. He says changes extending term lengths from five to seven years made in 2008 allow him a fresh mandate.

The country's highest court upheld his argument, sparking a month of riots that claimed six lives and prompted international concern.

Sall, 50, who has a degree in engineering, is making a strong showing in unofficial results trickling in from polling stations.

"The figures in our possession, published in the media, and the trends from polling stations show that a second round is inevitable," he said in a statement on his website, warning against any attempt to steal the vote.

He called the results a "massive rejection of the outgoing president." The mayor of the western city of Fatick fell out of favour in 2008 with Wade, his former mentor, under whom he had held several ministerial portfolios and also served as prime minister.

Wade, who won in the first round in 2007 elections with 55 percent, has seen his popularity plunge amid efforts to cling to power and line up his unpopular son Karim to succeed him.

He said in case of a run-off election his party "and its allies will naturally explore all the possibilities of understanding with other political forces.

"Together we will meet that challenge, you have my trust and I know I can count on yours," said Wade, praising Sunday's peaceful, transparent and democratic polling.

The octogenarian and former opposition leader, who is Africa's oldest leader after Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, 88, was first elected in 2000 on a wave of euphoria and his supporters praise him for overseeing a development boom.

However he is accused of focusing on prestige projects and being out of touch with the needs of the people, battling high unemployment and crippling power cuts.

While unofficial results were being released on public television and websites, the electoral commission will release its tallies from Tuesday, and has until Friday to give a final provisional result.

During a tumultuous election campaign in which angry youths clashed with police on a near-daily basis in the seaside capital, the incumbent swept the country urging voters to elect him in the first round.

Analysts said Wade would struggle in the second round, when the field narrows to two candidates.

"Everything is at stake in the first round. He is playing his last card," Dakar-based sociologist Hadiya Tandian told AFP. "If he goes to a second round he has no chance."

The former French colony of some 13 million people is one of the continent's pioneer democracies, boasting an unbroken series of elections since independence in 1960. Unlike many of its troubled neighbours it has never suffered a coup.