Just-concluded National Dialogue talks saw the government accept constitutional changes to permit former Dakar mayor Khalifa Sall and Karim Wade the son of ex-president Abdoulaye Wade to stand...

The two-round voting system enables opponents to unite around a single challenger in the second round – just as happened in 2012 when Sall crushed then incumbent Abdoulaye Wade in the final ballot...

A week before declaring his candidacy US attorney James Johnson registered as Seck's political lobbyist in Washington DC having previously been retained by Seck between 2005 and 2007 initially when Seck was jailed for seven months by former President Abdoulaye Wade...

If Sall does run again the voters could still throw him out – just as they did with Abdoulaye Wade in 2012 in similar circumstances...

It also breaks a commitment Sall gave when he was running for president against incumbent Abdoulaye Wade in 2012...

Two MPs of the opposition coalition Yewwi Askan wi (YAW) played major roles: Dakar mayor Bathélémy Dias who gained notoriety back in 2012 when he was mayor of the Dakar suburb of Mermoz and was filmed shooting at former President Abdoulaye Wade's vigilante groups attempting to blockade his office (AC Vol 53 No 3 Wade digs his heels in) and Guy Marius Sagna a firebrand anti-Sall and anti-France activist based in the Casamance capital of Ziguinchor with a history of violent protest...

Shades of WadeSenegalese voters are very attached to their national institutions and made this clear 10 years ago when Abdoulaye Wade Sall's predecessor and political mentor went against constitutional term limits by standing for a third term...

Another surprise sprung by the legislative elections was the resurgence of Abdoulaye Wade now 96 heading the Wallu Sénégal coalition with his own Parti démocratique sénégalais at its centre...

If anything the opposite has happened: people have become highly sceptical of such accusations given Sall's efforts to eliminate political competitors by using Senegal's legal system most notably Abdoulaye Wade's son Karim and the former mayor of Dakar Khalifa Sall...

Provisional results confirm the dominance in most urban areas of the opposition alliance of Yewwi Askan Wi led by Ousmane Sonko and Khalifa Sall and the Wallu movement of 96-year-old former President Abdoulaye Wade (AC Vol 63 No 11)...

8% of the vote to defeat President Abdoulaye Wade in March 2012 (AC Vol 53 No 7 Senegal ousts Wade)...

In 2012 Sall was swept to office on a wave of public fury at President Abdoulaye Wade's attempt to win a third term...

More problematically the Yewwi alliance has recently agreed an electoral pact with the Wallu alliance built around the Parti démocratique sénégalais (PDS) of former President Abdoulaye Wade...

Former President Abdoulaye Wade leads for Wallu...

That has been crucial to Macky's political survival since the euphoria that surrounded his spectacular 2012 defeat of incumbent head of state Abdoulaye Wade rapidly faded among the argumentative and power-sceptical dakarois...