Period in review: March 23-29, 2012

Incumbent Senegalese President Abdoulaye WADE conceded defeat on Sunday after losing the country’s presidential runoff election. Challenger Macky SALL captured 65.80 percent of the vote while WADE, who has been in power for 12 years, won 34.20 percent. WADE, who was running for a third term, faced SALL and 12 other candidates in the first round of presidential elections. Opposition figures have criticized WADE, saying a third term was unconstitutional following a 2001 reform that limits presidents to two terms. A court ruled, however, that WADE was not bound to this because his first term began before the rule was introduced. Earlier this year, WADE was forced to abandon a controversial provision that would have reduced the percentage a candidate needed to win in the first round from 50 to 25 percent.

Voters in Slovenia on Sunday rejected in a national referendum a new family law that would allow same-sex couples to adopt children. With a low turnout of approximately 26 percent, around 55 percent of voters rejected the law, while about 45 percent supported it. The new family code was passed by the then-governing center-left coalition in 2011 but a conservative group collected the signatures necessary to challenge the law in a referendum.

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