34 Facts About Abdoulaye Wade

Abdoulaye Wade is the Secretary-General of the Senegalese Democratic Party, having led the party since it was founded in 1974.

Abdoulaye Wade won re-election in 2007 with a majority in the first round, but was defeated in the second round in 2012 in a controversial bid for a third term.

Abdoulaye Wade was born in Kebemer, Senegal, on 29 May 1926 in wolof Family from Gandiol and walo.

Abdoulaye Wade studied and taught law at the Lycee Condorcet in France.

Abdoulaye Wade was dean of the law and economics faculty at the University of Dakar in Senegal.

At a summit of the Organization of African Unity in Mogadishu in 1974, Abdoulaye Wade told President Leopold Sedar Senghor that he wanted to start a new party, and Senghor agreed to this.

Also in 1978, Abdoulaye Wade was elected to the National Assembly, where he served until 1980.

Abdoulaye Wade attracted international attention in the wake of Senghor's announcement in late 1980 that he would resign; as the Secretary General of the PDS, he issued a statement denouncing the process and calling instead for the army to oversee a new set of elections.

Abdoulaye Wade rejoined the government as Minister of State in March 1995, but he and the other PDS ministers left again in March 1998.

Abdoulaye Wade subsequently spent a year in France, returning to Senegal on 27 October 1999.

Abdoulaye Wade became President on 1 April 2000 and appointed Niasse as his Prime Minister shortly afterwards.

Abdoulaye Wade initially cohabited with the PS, which held a majority in the legislature until the PDS and its allies won a majority in the April 2001 parliamentary election.

In September 2002, Abdoulaye Wade received the World Peace Culture Award.

On 15 October 2006, Abdoulaye Wade was nominated as presidential candidate of the PDS for the February 2007 presidential election.

Dieng and another opposition candidate, Abdoulaye Wade Bathily, filed appeals regarding the election, but these were rejected by the Constitutional Council.

Abdoulaye Wade conclusively stated in an interview published by Le Soleil on 19 May 2008 that there was no longer any possibility of dialogue with the opposition unless it recognized him as the legitimate President.

Later, on 17 September 2009, Abdoulaye Wade confirmed that he planned to run for a third term in 2012 "if God gives me a long life".

Abdoulaye Wade subsequently lost the second round of voting, held on 25 March 2012, to the opposition candidate Macky Sall; Sall had received the backing of all of the candidates who were defeated in the first round, and he defeated Wade by a wide margin.

Abdoulaye Wade was internationally praised for his handling of the 2012 presidential election, after congratulating his opponent on his victory and peacefully stepping down.

Abdoulaye Wade chose not to stand as a candidate for the July 2012 parliamentary election.

The PDS won 12 seats in the vote, marking a tremendous decrease in the party's parliamentary representation, but Abdoulaye Wade nevertheless said that he viewed the outcome as encouraging.

Abdoulaye Wade said that, contrary to expectations from some quarters that the PDS would disappear after losing power, it had emerged from the vote as the largest opposition party and the only one with enough seats to form a parliamentary group.

In 2015, despite being close to his 90th birthday, Abdoulaye Wade brushed aside suggestions that he should retire, arguing that no credible younger men had come along to succeed him as head of the PDS and that his parents both lived and worked to an advanced age.

The divided opposition performed poorly in the election; the coalition backing President Sall won 125 seats, a majority, while Abdoulaye Wade's coalition trailed distantly in second place with 19 seats.

Abdoulaye Wade explained that his purpose in running was merely to support his coalition in the election.

However, Abdoulaye Wade decided to quickly leave this coalition in September 2021 and recreate a coalition that brought together roughly the same parties as the winning Manko Wattu coalition formed for the 2017 legislative elections.

Abdoulaye Wade's presidency was marred by allegations of corruption, nepotism and constraints on freedom of the press and other civil liberties.

Abdoulaye Wade was criticized for excessive spending on what have been described as "prestige projects".

Abdoulaye Wade later regretted that his comments had caused religious offense to Christians.

Abdoulaye Wade received criticism in 2009 for a "goodbye present" he reportedly gave to a departing IMF official after the two had dinner.

Widespread speculation and criticism centered on the possibility that Abdoulaye Wade was grooming his son Karim to succeed him.

Abdoulaye Wade went on to say that his son "will never accept that Macky Sall is above him", and if slavery still existed today in the country, he would have sold Macky Sall into slavery.

Abdoulaye Wade never renounced his French nationality after the independence of Senegal.

In March 2012, Abdoulaye Wade announced plans to go to Saudi Arabia for a religious pilgrimage.