Senegal's embattled Wade names new elections chief

Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade on Monday named a new minister to oversee elections, a role formerly held by the interior minister, who the opposition wants axed on the grounds that he is biased. "There is a new member of government. Cheikh Gueye, the inspector general of state and formerly director general of elections has been named minister in charge of elections," a government statement said. The 85-year-old Wade, who is seeking a controversial third term in office in polls due in 2012, has been under pressure from the opposition to sack his Interior Minister Ousmane Ngom. During a meeting of his ruling party Saturday, Wade had said he would put somebody else in charge of elections. A month earler riots broke out in Senegal as parliament examined proposed changes to election laws, leaving over 100 injured in the biggest protests since Wade came to power in 2000. The changes were later shelved because of the pressure from the street and harsh criticism from abroad. The proposed changes would have added a vice president to the presidential ticket and dropped the winning threshold for a first-round victory to 25 percent of the votes from the current 50 percent. Wade's critics believe he is trying to smooth the way for his 42-year-old son Karim to succeed him without having to run for office himself. Karim Wade is considered too unpopular to win on his own ticket. The president has dismissed the claim. The national debate has heightened tension in the west African country -- a bastion of stability in a troubled region, which has always known peaceful transfers of power and never undergone a coup d'etat. Senegal's first president after independence from France in 1960, Leopold Senghor, resigned in favour of his prime minister Abdou Diouf in 1981. Diouf in turn accepted defeat when trumped by Wade. Wade was first elected for a seven-year term in 2000 and again in 2007 for a five-year mandate after a constitutional change shortened the presidential term. According to the constitution, the president can only serve two terms. However Wade's supporters say this provision only came into play after the change in the law -- which would mean he is entitled to seek another term in office.