Parliamentary Election, 17 November 2024

The National Assembly in Senegal consists of 165 seats, with 112 elected through a majority system and the remaining 53 proportionally by a national list system. President Bassirou Diomaye Faye dissolved the National Assembly on 12 September 2024, leading to a snap parliamentary election on 17 November. Senegal has dual election management bodies: the Ministry of Interior, which oversees organization of elections across the country; and the Autonomous National Electoral Commission (CENA) which is responsible for monitoring and reporting (IFES n.d.).

The Civil Forum and the Senegalese Section of Transparency International implemented an Electoral Accountability Programme ahead of the election to ensure a peaceful and legitimate electoral process. The programme included deploying long- and short-term observers (Xibaaru 2024; Civil Forum n.d.). To combat disinformation, a workshop was held in Dakar with electoral stakeholders to raise awareness and encourage collaboration between all electoral stakeholders. Organized by the US-based National Democratic Institute (NDI), it brought together journalists and media monitors, CENA, and USAID, among others (APS 2024).

During the campaign period, Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko and his convoy were attacked in the town of Koungheul. PM Sonko stated that the vehicles had stones thrown at them, with the head of an allied political party suffering a broken arm. On the second day of the campaign period, the headquarters of an opposition party was targeted through vehicle attacks, smashed windows and a fire (France24 2024; Banchereau 2024b).

On 5 November—just over two weeks from polling day—unprecedented riverine flooding inundated the North-East of the country leading to the displacement of over 56,000 people. President Faye visited the affected regions ahead of the elections (UNICEF 2024). Residents of Korkadié, in northern Senegal, were ensured voting access due to firefighters shuttling voters and electoral staff to the polling stations (Chemam 2024; Seneplus 2024). Some polling stations were relocated and local contingency plans were made for others at risk. The Interior Ministry’s DGE (General Director of Elections) redesigned its website for easier navigation and a WhatsApp group was created for candidate representatives to establish quick and stable communication (Gueye 2024).

Former president Macky Sall’s Takku Wallu Senegal coalition stated after the closing of polls that the election had been riddled with irregularities. Claiming “massive fraud”, their statement included allegations of ballot stuffing and withholding of ballot papers and lists of representatives (Sarr 2024). However, Sall later conceded and congratulated the incumbent PASTEF party (Banchereau 2024b).

PASTEF won 130 out of 165 seats in the National Assembly, while Macky Sall’s coalition won 16 seats, down from 83 in 2022 (RFI/Westerhoff 2024). Voter turnout was 49.72 per cent, an increase on the 2022 legislative election turnout of 46.64 per cent (International IDEA n.d.).