At the end of the evening on Sunday, Aminata Touré, head of the presidential coalition list, assured that she had won 30 departments, out of the 46 in Senegal and constituencies abroad, while acknowledging defeat in Dakar, the capital. “This definitely gives us a majority in the National Assembly,” she said.
“We followed with amazement the exit of Ms. Mimi Touré who (…) presents herself as the spokesperson for President Macky Sall who is once again seeking to confiscate the votes of the Senegalese who have just given a comfortable majority to the National Assembly to the Yewwi Wallu intercoalition”, reacted the main opposition coalition.
No more than the presidential camp, the opposition does not specify in its press release the number of deputies obtained by its camp, nor whether it is a relative or absolute majority, but speaks of “heavy tendencies drawn from the PVs (trials verbal) in our possession and well relayed by the national press”.
“We hold national and international opinion to witness against any attempt to manipulate the results (…) and we also call on all Senegalese to stand up for the securing of the victory of the people”, continues the press release.
– Test ballot –
The opposition has said it wants to take advantage of these elections to impose cohabitation on President Sall, who hopes to keep a large majority.
These legislative elections, the last ballot before the presidential election of 2024, are a test after the local elections in January, won by the opposition in large cities in this West African country known for its stability, such as Dakar, Ziguinchor (south) and Thiès (west).
These elections, in a single round, aim to renew for five years the 165 seats of the unicameral Parliament largely controlled by the presidential camp.
Macky Sall has promised to appoint a Prime Minister – a position he had abolished and then restored in December 2021 – within the victorious formation of the elections.
The provisional overall results will be given no later than Friday by the National Vote Census Commission (CNRV), but the local media and main political movements have been reporting partial results since Sunday evening.
The first trends reported by the media show a tight ballot and a good breakthrough of the Yewwi/Wallu intercoalition, particularly in urban centers.
“Yewwi Askan Wi” (Free the People in Wolof), the main opposition coalition, formed around Ousmane Sonko, who came third in the 2019 presidential election, has joined forces with the “Wallu Senegal” coalition (Save the Senegal in Wolof), led by ex-president Abdoulaye Wade.
– Voting in peace –
The vote took place on Sunday calmly and without major incident, with a participation rate of 47%, according to the Ministry of the Interior.
The Autonomous National Electoral Commission (Cena), which supervises the vote, had deployed some 22,000 observers. Experts from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and La Francophonie were also present.
The deputies are elected according to a method that mixes proportional voting with national lists for 53 parliamentarians, and majority voting in the departments for 97 others. The diaspora has 15 deputies.
The election takes place in a context of rising prices, a consequence in particular of the war in Ukraine, an argument used by the opposition against the government, which highlights the subsidies for petroleum products and foodstuffs as well as its program to build infrastructure
The opposition also wants to force Mr. Sall to give up any hint of a candidacy in 2024. President Sall, elected in 2012 for seven years and re-elected in 2019 for five years, remains vague about his intentions 19 months before the presidential election.
“If Macky Sall loses the legislative elections, he will no longer speak of a 3rd term”, assured Mr. Sonko.
The pre-campaign had been marked by violent demonstrations which had left at least three dead due to the invalidation by the Constitutional Council of the holders of the national list of the coalition led by Mr. Sonko, forced to give up participating in the elections. .
