By Pascal Fletcher DAKAR, March 1 (Reuters) - In a continent where wisdom and age command respect, Senegalese President Aboulaye Wade has proved he can still beat a pack of younger challengers despite doubts about his rule over one of Africa's most stable states. Nicknamed "Ndiombor" (meaning "hare" in the local Wolof language) for his political cunning, the octogenarian leader has shown a clear pair of heels to 14 contenders to win a second term in office in a presidential election held on Sunday. Most opponents and many analysts had predicted that Wade, who will now serve five more years, would be forced into a second round by his opponents at a time when palpable discontent and resistance had emerged to his seven years in office. Critics pointed in particular to an embarrassing exodus over the last year of thousands of young Senegalese risking their lives in flimsy boats to seek a better life in Europe by landing on the Spanish Canary Islands. Hundreds have died trying. Opponents said these migrants and their "Barca or Barzakh" (Barcelona or Death) motto gave the lie to Wade's claims to have improved education and reduced unemployment in Senegal, most of whose nearly 12 million people live from fishing and farming. Wade, who broke the rival Socialists' 40-year grip on power when he was elected in 2000, used all of his advantages as incumbent head of state and the powerful political machinery of his Senegalese Democratic Party to win Sunday's vote. Despite his age, he campaigned across the country, from the dry north on the fringes of the Sahara to the lush forests of troubled southern Casamance region, where his own efforts to end a long running separatist insurgency have failed so far. Promising to create jobs by building hotels, highways, ports and railways across the former French colony, Wade rallied his supporters with the cry of "First round, First round", vowing to win more than half of the votes outright. "I'm optimistic ... because I'm the president of the young people," he told supporters at his final campaign rally. But while reaching out to the disgruntled young, Wade was careful to keep alongside him some of the traditional economic and political powerbrokers of Senegal's predominantly Muslim society -- the influential Mouride Islamic brotherhood and members of the Lebanese business community. "A GOOD MOURIDE" He is himself a member of the Mourides, who control key sectors of the economy, such as major markets and taxi services. "As a good Mouride ... I'm a worker to the bottom of my soul. I believe in work," he said in a recent interview. His official biography puts his date of birth as May 29, 1926, which makes him 80. But many believe he is older. He sees age as no barrier to holding office. "On our continent, leaders are old ... and (Cuban President) Fidel Castro and (Zimbabwean President Robert) Mugabe are older than me," he says. In Western eyes at least, he is seen as having better democratic credentials than these last two. As much at home in elegant business suits as in the traditional West African "boubou" (robe) and cap, Wade cuts a dapper, if at times temperamental, figure at world forums.
