21 February 2008
Maputo — The Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS), in power in the west African country for the past eight years, has promised to support Mozambique's third largest party, the PDD (Party for Peace, Democracy and Development) in the presidential and parliamentary elections of 2009.
The PDD was founded by Raul Domingos, once the number two in the former rebel movement Renamo, after he was expelled from Renamo in 2000. In the 2004 presidential election, Domingos came third - but with only 2.7 per cent of the vote. In the parliamentary election, the PDD took two per cent of the vote. It would have secured two or three seats in parliament, but for the clause in the electoral law of the time which stated that a party must win five per cent of the national vote before it can obtain any parliamentary seats at all.
The international officer of the PDS, Mamadou Lamine Ba, told AIM on Thursday that the PDS will raise funds for the PDD's election campaign, and will help the PDD become better known internationally.
"We shall help the PDD come to power", said Lamine Ba. "Democrats of the world should help this party rise to power. We shall help the PDD to raise funds, to organise its campaigns, and to obtain support from the international community".
As part of this support, Domingos has been invited to take part in a congress of liberal parties to be held in Europe in May.
Lamine Ba added that the PDD must persevere in the hope that one day it will win. He pointed out that the PDS had been in opposition for 25 years, before defeating the Senegalese Socialist Party in 2000.
He advised the PDD to improve its social programme and to ensure that this was transmitted clearly to the Mozambican public so that it would understand the philosophy of liberal politics. He recalled that every time the PDS lost elections (between 1974 and 2000), it did not give up but improved its agenda and its contact with the public.
The breakthrough came with the election of PDS leader Abdoulaye Wade to the Senegalese presidency in 2000. He was re-elected in 2007 with 56 per cent of the vote.
Raul Domingos told AIM he regarded the experience of the PDS as encouraging, since it shows that a political party can spend many years in opposition, but eventually come to power. The same could happen in Mozambique - but he hoped the transition would be quicker.
"We hope it won't take us 25 years to come to power", he said. "We feel that we are not alone in our struggle for power. We have partners supporting us in various areas, all this inspires us, and encourages us in all that we are doing for democracy in Mozambique".
Lamine Ba is in Maputo for a meting of African liberal parties, attended by parties from 13 countries. The meeting, due to end on Saturday, enjoys the support of the Democratic Party of the United States, and of the British Liberal Democratic Party.
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