Dakar, Senegal - The leader of the Senegalese opposition Socialist Party, Noël Seck, jailed for insulting a magistrate, was on Wednesday pardoned by president Abdoulaye Wade. Immediately after he got out of prison, the young politician said that the fight would continue because now they 'must fight for the release of Barthélémy Dias', another Socialist Party supporter arrested following the death of one of the people who attacked the city hall in a district of Dakar.

The spokesperson for the president Wade, Serigne Mbacké Ndiaye, said the action was for the 'pacification of the country’s politics', as tension was high with the 26 February presidential election drawing close.

President Wade is running for a third term to the surprise of opposition leaders and activists of the country’s civil society.

Malick Noël Seck was arrested during a series of demonstrations held to challenge president Wade’s candidature.

On 10 October last year, he also sent a letter entitled “Demands from the Senegalese people to the members of the Constitutional Council”, the judicial body expected to determine president Wade’s candidature.

He was due to be released on 15 February.

Pana 12/01/2012