Page "Abdoulaye Wade" Paragraph 2

At a summit of the Organization of African Unity in Mogadishu in 1974, Wade told President Léopold Sédar Senghor that he wanted to start a new party, and Senghor agreed to this.

The PDS was founded on 31 July 1974.

The party — initially intended as a Labour party — adopted liberalism in 1976 due to the introduction of a law permitting the existence of only three parties with three distinct ideologies, two of which were taken by other parties ( liberalism was therefore the only remaining option ).

Wade first ran for President in February 1978 against Senghor, taking 17. 38 % of the vote.

Senghor gave Wade the nickname " Diombor " ( Wolof for hare ).

Also in 1978, Wade was elected to the National Assembly, where he served until 1980.

Subsequently he ran in the presidential elections of 1983 and 1988, taking second place each time, behind Senghor's successor Abdou Diouf.

Following the 1988 election, he was arrested due to protests against the results and received a suspended sentence.

Subsequently he went to France, but returned in 1990.