Africa

Senegal goes to the polls to elect the Parliament for the next five years

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The country, which has one of the strongest democracies in West Africa, votes to settle the 165 seats that will make up the hemicycle in the next period. After the controversies over the presentation of the list, the opposition bloc will seek a majority that discourages an alleged intention of the president to go for an unconstitutional third term in 2024. There are seven million inhabitants who are qualified to cast their vote.

The party of democracy moved to Senegal where parliamentary elections will be held this Sunday. The seven million voters who are able to vote will elect the 165 representatives of the hemicycle – there are another 15 who are appointed by the diaspora – for the next five-year term.

After weeks of tensions and demonstrations that even led to the death of some citizens, the polling stations opened at 8 a.m. local time and will close at 6 p.m.

The National Autonomous Electoral Commission (CENA), the entity in charge of supervising the day, deployed around 22,000 observers throughout the territory. In addition, there are 40 experts from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

They take place in a context of general discontent with the ruling administration for the frantic rise in gasoline and food prices due to the consequences of the war in Ukraine.

These elections are in a single round and could be transcendent for one of the most prominent democracies in the West African region, where the General Assembly – it only has one Chamber – is currently controlled by the ruling party.

On this occasion there will be eight coalitions that will bid for the favor of the voters. Within these options is finally ‘Liberate the people’, the main opposition space of Ousmane Sonko.


The referent of the resistance was third in the 2019 presidential elections, but after Idrissa Seck -the second- joined the Government, he remained as the maximum antagonistic figure of President Macky Sall.

However, his participation was prohibited for this day because his coalition list, which also includes former president Abdoulaye Wade from ‘Save Senegal’, had technical mistakes.

The Senegalese electoral system requires parties to have two lists, one primary and one alternate. However, since the same person appeared in both, the Constitutional Council ruled out the main one at the beginning of June.

This sparked a series of violent protests in recent weeks that have left at least three civilians dead. After the opposition announced on June 29 – after threats of a boycott – that it would participate with the ‘B list’, tensions eased.

What is at stake in these elections?

The opposition, which will finally have to resort to a list without reference names and with several political ‘outsiders’, maintains high expectations for Sunday.

After achieving good results in the main cities in the local elections last March, where the capital Dakar, Ziguinchor and Thies stand out, the coalition led by Sonko seeks a strong presence in Parliament to discard any expectation of President Sall to go for a third term outside the Constitution.

Sall was elected in 2012 for the first time for a period of seven years and was re-elected in 2019 for another five (in 2016 there was a reform that shortened the time of each presidential cycle) and has been targeted for wanting a third candidacy for 2024.

Although he has not been accurate with this intention, he has not ruled it out either and the result of these elections may be vital to reject these ideas or promote them.

To strengthen his space, Sonko -a deputy since 2017- went to former President Wade with whom they agreed to work together to obtain a parliamentary majority and “force government coexistence.”

For his part, Sall based his campaign on subsidies for oil and food products; and its infrastructure construction program. Meanwhile, he promised large-scale projects, such as a high-speed train line and gas production. He intends to retain his current majority of more than three-quarters of the 165-seat House.

With EFE, AFP and Reuters

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