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AMBI: Envelope crunching up for a few secs and dip under track.
Senegal's Counsul General Cheikh Niag is stuffing absentee ballots into an envelope.
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He will send these ballots of Senegal's US- based citizens to Dakar where they will be counted and included in this year's presidential election results.
The Consul General's office is located in the heart of Harlem. On the streets outside, Senegalese Election posters hang on music shops, bodegas and restaurants. Locals call this area little-Sandaga- named after the largest market place in Dakar. Niang says US based voters will be scrutinizing the record of current president Abdulahye Wade.
SOT: they always judge the incumbent adminstration according to the expectations and also according to he promises before they were elected
Niang says when voters cast their ballots, they're mainly concerned about the promise of political and economic stability back home.
SOT: People living here in the United States, all of them what they want is to be able to go back to the country very easily, to invest very easily. They also look at the programs, the platforms which are shown by the candidates to make a choice.
Current President Abdulahye Wade is 80 years old. He's been in office for seven years. Many observers credit Wade for maintaining political stability in West Africa. His oppenents accuse him of human rights violations, and hold him responsible for high levels of unemployment.
Ndeye Diop is a social worker who has been living in NY for 7 years. Diop says voting is a way for every Senegalese to stay actively involved in their country's politics.
SOT: We are here in the United States away from my country, but we still have the right to chose and be part of any decision that is taking place over there.
More than a dozen political parties participated in this year's elections. Most of them actively campaigned in Harlem. But some say there were problems with voting. Amadou Ndiaye is with the Socialist party that ruled Senegal for 40 years. He was disappointed with voter turnout. He says the Senegalese consul purposely withheld registration cards, preventing US based voters from casting their ballots.
SOT: We have around, roughly around fifty or sixty thousand Senegalese people in the United states. But we have 4457
Counsul General Niag says everyone received voter registration cards on time.
SOT : Ultimately the cards came to the Consul General and right after that, the cards
Were distributed to the owners.
All in all, some five million people in Senegal and around the world cast their votes in this year's presidential election. The Senegalese electoral commission yesterday announced that the country's 80-year-old incumbent Abdulahye Wade has been re-elected to office. He won more than 55% of the votes. His closest rival only managed to garner less than 15% of the vote. Wade will serve a five-year term.
Henok Fetne, Columbia Radio News