Senegalese want a strong president, says Wade

DAKAR, Senegal (Reuters) -- Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade, who promised before his election to limit presidential powers, said on Wednesday he could see the Senegalese really wanted a strong presidency.

"The type of administration that the Senegalese want is the one I've found here, there is no doubt about that, until there is evidence of the contrary," Wade told reporters on his way back from an Islamic summit in Qatar.

Wade pledged during his campaign for the presidential election last March to give more powers to the government and to make it answerable to parliament under a proposed new constitution.

A constitutional referendum has been called for January 7.

Wade, whose election for the Democratic Party put an end to the 40-year unbroken rule of the Socialist Party, said he would "make some concessions regarding the powers that I've been given and hand them over to other institutions."

The Alliance of Progressive Forces (AFP), the party of Prime Minister Moustapha Niasse, favors the new constitution.

In a recent statement, the AFP called for "electoral pledges to be fully kept...in particular the Senegalese people's preference for a parliamentary system and a balance between powers."

The date of the referendum, which had initially been scheduled for November 27, has already been postponed twice.

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