Youssou N’Dour to Run for Senegal Presidency

Youssou N'Dour, the Senegalese musician, has said he will stand in the presidential election scheduled for late February.

He will run against incumbent Abdoulaye Wade, who is seeking a third term. According to an amendment in the Senegalese constitution, presidential terms have been limited to two. However, Wade has put forward the argument that the amendment was passed after he had begun his first term in office.

Meanwhile, N'Dour has announced that he is cancelling concert dates to focus on politics. I've travelled the world and been seen by people all over the world and I think I have the ability to govern Senegal. I am the alternative, N'Dour announced on his own television station, Television Futurs Medias. For 50 years the people have seen Senegal run by what I would call traditional politicians and they have had enough, he said. They want something new and I am the model, he added.

N’Dour, who has served as a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, helped in spearheading a campaign to fight malaria in his home country. N’Dour is running under his party “Fekk Maci Boole,” which means “I am a part of this, so I must act,” in the Senegalese Wolof language.