Hundreds of Senegalese voters on Sunday loudly booed controversial Presidential candidate, Abdoulaye Wade, the incumbent 85-year-old leader, as he cast his vote in his home precinct.

President Wade’s decision to run for a third term in office in Sunday’s election has sparked nationwide protests, marring Senegal’s reputation as Africa’s most stable democracy.

The protests have proven deadly, claiming at least eight lives, according to reports.

Wade, who cast his vote at an elementary school, was met by an agitated crowd, some of who screamed, “Get out old man!”

The controversial leader, who was whisked away by security officials, was not the only one to suffer harassment on the tense elections day.

According to the AP report, a mob and surrounded and beaten up a young man who had said he planned to vote for the two-term president.

Wade is running for yet another term in office even after he revised the constitution in 2008 to impose a two-term limit. He argued that since his first term had happened before the new law, it didn’t count.

He further aggravated Senegalese youth when he stopped singer Youssou Ndour from running in Sunday’s elections.

The nationwide violent protests raised concerns amongst the international community, with the United Nations calling for calm in today’s polls.

Nigeria’s former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who visited the country in a mediatory role, meeting with opposition leaders in a bid to broker a solution in Senegal’s political show down.

However, his mission suffered a setback when opposition leaders on Saturday night turned down Obasanjo’s two-year in office deal for Wade, which the Nigerian former President proposed.

Obasanjo, at a news conference, proposed that Wade rule for two years of a third term. His press conference was interrupted by anti-Wade protesters who ordered the Nigerian leader to leave their country, saying “We will never accept it”.

Tension is running high, because the opposition has vowed to render the country ungovernable if he wins Sunday’s poll.