(29 Feb 2012)
1. Senegalese opposition leader Macky Sall entering his first news conference after seemingly taking second place in first round of presidential polls
2. Cutaway photographer
3. SOUNDBITE: (French) Macky Sall, Opposition Presidential Candidate:
"I will propose a reform of the constitution which will among other things reduce the length of the term of the president of the republic to five years (UPSOUND: applause) - renewable a single time. And I am here to say that I will apply this reform to myself. I am committing myself to carrying out a term of no more than five years. And this reform which will limit the number of terms to two and the duration of the term to five years will not be something that can ever be modified again (UPSOUND: applause)."
4. Cutaway mid of news conference
5. Cutaway photographers
6. SOUNDBITE: (French) Macky Sall, Opposition Presidential Candidate:
"I invite everyone to join together for the next round of the presidential elections, probably on the 18th of March, on the 18th or 25th to pursue a common fight against the unconstitutional candidature (of President Abdoulaye Wade) which is in front of us, a fight which must be won in memory of the victims (killed in protests) which we have recorded recently."
7. Wide of Sall at news conference
8. Various exteriors of Dakar law courts where provisional results of vote were being prepared ready for their announcement
STORYLINE:
The man who may become Senegal's next president vowed on Wednesday to revise the constitution to reduce the length of the presidential term from seven to five years, if he wins next month's runoff.
Opposition leader Macky Sall also made clear he would apply the shorter term to himself, as well as the two-term limit that is already present in the constitution.
Both proposals are digs at the country's 85-year-old President Abdoulaye Wade.
The leader faced a popular revolt after he decided to run for a third term in Sunday's election, in violation of the two-term limit he himself introduced into the constitution.
Wade argued the law was not retroactive and should not apply to him since it went into effect after he took office.
Provisional results indicate that Senegal's presidential race will head to a runoff after none of the 14 candidates won a majority of votes in the first round.
President Wade, received 942,546 votes, or 34.82 percent.
He will face off against his former protege, ex-Prime Minister Macky Sall.
The results issued late Wednesday by a Senegalese court showed Sall received 719,369 votes, or 26.57 percent.
The results are a humiliating defeat for the 85-year-old Wade, who experts said needed to win on the first round when the opposition vote was split.
His chances of winning the runoff are considered slim.
Wade has applied to himself a 2008 constitutional revision, which lengthened the presidential term from five to seven years.
If he wins the runoff in March, he will be in office past his 92nd birthday.
In power for 12 years, Wade was once considered among the rare democratic leaders in Africa.
He spent 25 years in the opposition fighting to loosen the grip of the former socialist party, which ruled this former French colony for 40 years since independence in 1960.
His image began to suffer after he began giving an increasing share of power to his son, who is derisively called "the Minister of Air, Sky and Water" after he was handed control of multiple ministries including infrastructure and energy.
Wade's reputation took a nosedive when he announced last year that he planned to run for a third term.
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