Agenzia Fides

Dakar (Agenzia Fides) - "The presidential elections whose first round is fixed for Sunday, February 26, will be decisive for the future of the country", say the Bishops of Senegal in the message dedicated to the presidential elections.
In the document, which Fides received, it is stressed that "this first election after the 50th anniversary celebrations of sovereignty, is the bearer of important challenges, giving rise to a particularly acute atmosphere of tension, with unforeseeable risks, if the different protagonists will not be able to reason".
The main challenge, according to the Bishops, derives from the "world crisis that spares no nation on the planet" but cannot hide "the internal misrule that has lasted for several decades, marked by public affairs without prospects, partisan, and does not take the needs of the population into consideration".
This has not prevented, the bishops point out, the political upheaval of 2000 (which brought to power the current President Wade, after decades of government of the Socialist Party) through "free and transparent election, accepted by everyone". And that is what is hoped for this year's elections. This is why the message appeals to the candidates, so that they give proof of "great democratic culture, desire for truth, the perspective to improve the living conditions of the population, excluding unnecessary diatribes and demagogic promises". Likewise, voters are asked to consider each candidate with a critical eye with its plans and to exercise discernment in the light of the Word of God
The message ends with the exhortation to prayer, listening and putting into practice the Word of God, entrusting the country to Mary, Our Lady of Poponguine, Queen of Senegal. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 08/02/2012)