DAKAR, Senegal - Voters booed Senegal's president so loudly when he went to cast his ballot Sunday that his bodyguards whisked him away, another sign of how much his popularity has dipped ahead of an election that has sparked weeks of riots.
This normally unflappable republic has been rocked by back-to-back protests following President Abdoulaye Wade's decision to seek a third term, threatening Senegal's reputation as one of the most mature democracies in Africa.
In choosing to run again, the 85-year-old leader is violating the term limits he himself introduced into the constitution.
Wade argues that those restrictions should not apply to him since he was elected before they went into effect, and has predicted that he will win Sunday's poll with a crushing majority.
But voters shouted "Get out old man!" as Wade showed up in his home district, where he has voted for decades. Country watchers say they have never witnessed such a scene before in Senegal, where respect toward the elderly is considered a cultural value.
"I feel sad because our democracy doesn't deserve this," said the president's daughter Syndiely Wade, who stayed back in the polling station in the neighbourhood of Point E to talk to reporters. "My father doesn't deserve this."
The deadly riots began last month when the country's highest court ruled that the term limits in the new constitution did not apply to Wade, paving the way for him to run again. The country's opposition has vowed to render the country ungovernable should he win.
Moussa Signate, a security guard, sat against the cement wall of an elementary school that had been transformed into a polling station downtown, watching others line up to vote. Lines snaked outside the doors of the classrooms, but Signate said he was so discouraged that he was considering not voting at all.
"I'm thinking about the future of my country," said the 47-year-old. "People have had enough. If you earn, like me, 80,000 francs ($160) a month, and a bag of rice costs 25,000 ($50), how are you supposed to live? We're a peaceful people, but you can't push us and expect nothing. If Wade wins, it will be chaos."
Voting throughout the capital got off to an orderly start with no immediate reports of violence. Thijs Berman, head of the European Union observation mission, said that turnout appeared to be high, an encouraging sign.
Still many people in this nation that is more than 90 per cent Muslim fingered prayer beads as they waited their turn. Others had their eyes closed in prayer. One man stood in the queue, mouthing verses from an open Qur'an. All said they were praying for peace.
In a volatile part of the world, Senegal has long been seen as the exception.
Mauritania located to the north held its first democratic election in 2007, only for the president to be overthrown in a coup a year later. To the south, Guinea-Bissau's president was assassinated two years ago. And further south in Ivory Coast, mass graves are still being unearthed containing the victims of last year's postelection violence.
"For many years we all wrote and spoke about Senegal as being different," said Africa expert Chris Fomunyoh at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs in Washington. "Senegal has been viewed as the anchor in the sub-region. And today, the metal on that anchor is melting before our very eyes."
First elected 12 years ago, Wade was once hailed as a hope for Africa. He spent 25 years as the opposition leader of this nation of more than 12 million, fighting the excesses of the former socialist regime which ruled Senegal from 1960 until 2000 when he was first elected.
Growing unrest is being fueled by a sense that the country's institutions are being violated, starting with the constitution. The anger is combined with the fact that one in two people in Senegal still live below the poverty line, according to the World Bank.
"It's a situation that we've never experienced before. We've always voted in an atmosphere of calm. And now? Everyone is predicting trouble," said 55-year-old homemaker Marie Diop.
Worrying for many analysts is the lack of confidence in the very institutions that have long been held up in Senegal. Just days before the constitutional court was due to vote last month on whether Wade was eligible to run again, the judges received new, government-issued luxury cars, according to the court's spokesman.
And the chief justice saw his salary jump to $10,000 per month in a nation where most people earn $90 per month. The fear is that even if Wade were to win legally, the confidence in the institutions has been so eroded that people will not accept his victory as legitimate.
Wade has dismissed these fears, and in an interview published Sunday in the French newspaper Journal du Dimanche he said he doesn't fear rioting because "a revolt by Senegalese against me is unthinkable."
The ruling party remains popular in many corners of the country, and despite mounting criticism the government is credited with undertaking the biggest building boom in Senegal's history.
Nearly every economic indicator in the country has improved since he took office 12 years ago, from literacy which grew from 39 to 50 per cent, to the average life span which increased from 56 to 59 years, according to World Bank data.
Those voting for the president cite examples of how his reforms have touched their own lives -- like 63-year-old Habib Sane, who has been the official florist for Senegal's last three presidents.
"I needed to get dialysis. Before it was 50,000 ($100) per session. Now it's 10,000 ($20). I would have died if it cost what it cost before, because I don't have that kind of money," said Sane, whose monthly salary is around $320. "I've worked for all three presidents, and I can tell you that there have been real changes."
