Senegal
Electoral Institution
The Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI)
Population:
16 617 734
Eligible Voting Population:
6,683,043
Minimum Voter's Age:
18
Political Regime
Democracy with a presidential system. Senegal is a republic with a multiparty presidential system in which the President holds the office of Head of State and the Prime Minister the office of Head of Government. Executive power is in the hands of the government, while legislative power is shared between the government and parliament. The judiciary is independent of the first two. The National Assembly is composed of 165 deputies elected for a five-year term of office under a mixed electoral system in 53 constituencies corresponding to Senegal's 45 departments and 8 constituencies abroad. The President of Senegal is elected for a five year term using the two-round system; a candidate must receive over 50% of the vote to be elected in the first round. If no candidate had crossed the threshold, a second round would have been held between the top two candidates.
Number of Political Parties:
299
Number of Election Held
General elections : 11 (1963, 1968, 1973, 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993, 2000, 2007, 2012, 2019) Parliamentary elections : 14 (1957, 1959, 1963, 1968, 1973, 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998, 2001, 2007, 2012, 2017) Regional elections : 5 (1996, 2002, 2009, 2014, 2020) Municipal elections : 5 (1996, 2002, 2009, 2014, 2020) Referendums : 5 (1958, 1963, 1970, 2001, 2016)
When are the Next Elections?
General elections: 2024 Parliamentary elections: 2022
In January 1959, Senegal and the French Sudan merged to form the Mali Federation, which became fully independent on 20 June 1960. The transfer of power agreement with France was signed on 4 April 1960. Due to internal political difficulties, the Federation broke up on 20 August 1960. Léopold Senghor, the first president after independence, abdicated in favour of his Prime Minister, Abdou Diouf, in 1981. Senegal joined with The Gambia to form the nominal confederation of Senegambia on 1 February 1982. However, the envisaged integration of the two countries was never carried out and the union was dissolved in 1989. Abdou Diouf was president between 1981 and 2000. In the presidential election of 2000, he was defeated in a free and fair election by opposition leader Abdoulaye Wade. Senegal experienced its second peaceful transition of power and its first from one political party to another. The current president, Macky Sall, was democratically elected in March 2012.