DAKAR, Senegal:
Senegal’s electoral authorities on Sunday confirmed President Abdoulaye
Wade as the winner of last month’s election, rejecting charges of
cheating and officially giving the octogenarian president five more
years at the helm of the West African nation.

Wade won with about 1.9 million votes, or 56 percent of valid
ballots, compared with 15 percent for runner-up Idrissa Seck, declared
Senegal’s constitutional council — the final authority on elections.
The winning candidate needed more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid
a runoff.

The council also rejected claims by two of the 14 opposition
candidates that irregularities in the voting process should invalidate
the results. Marxist candidate Abdoulaye Bathily, who finished sixth
with 2 percent of the vote, had said some ballots were not properly
signed by election officials and that voting continued for five hours
after the polls officially closed on the night of Feb. 25.

Ousmane Tanor Dieng, who finished third with about 14 percent of the
total, had also asked for annulment of the vote, though his campaign
did not release his specific complaints.

The petitions by the candidates were "without foundation," said
chief clerk Ndeye Maguette Mbengue. He did not provide further details.