Senegal
Senegal performs in the middle range in Representation, Rights, and Rule of Law and in the high range with regard to Participation. Over the past five years, there have been declines in Credible Elections, Access to Justice, and Personal Integrity and Security, reflecting recent weakening in the country’s democratic institutions during that time. Senegal has long been known for stability, and despite a number of challenges in the 2024 electoral process, the country’s 2024 election resulted in another peaceful transfer of power. Senegal is a lower-middle income country, with an economy that has traditionally revolved around agricultural products such as peanuts, sugarcane, and cotton. In recent decades, Senegal has seen the development of the industrial, mining, and services sectors.
Present-day Senegal was, for much of its precolonial history, an important part of several West African kingdoms and a critical node on trans-Saharan caravan routes. Starting in the 1600s, the area slowly came under the control of France, and Sengal re-gained its independence in 1960. While Senegal was initially a one-party state under President Léopold Senghor, the party system was gradually liberalized in the 1970s and 1980s, and the country experienced democratic transfers of power in 2000, 2012, and 2024. Electoral politics in Senegal are driven primarily by social inequities, not ethnicity. In particular, levels of education and the urban-rural divide are salient dividing lines. Patronage and clientelism have an impact on electoral competition. While Senegal is a unitary nation, a system of decentralization means that levels of development vary widely across the country. As a result, the primary issues in Senegalese politics are investing in development and combatting corruption.
Several aspects of social identity constitute additional cleavages in the West African nation, including religion. While Muslims account for a large majority of the population, Christians—mainly Catholics—comprise about five per cent of the total. Casamance, a southern region with a large Christian population, is culturally and geographically separated from the rest of Senegal by The Gambia, and has long fought a low-level conflict challenging the reach of the Senegalese state. An additional limitation on the state’s ability to project power is seen in the Islamic city of Touba, which enjoys a de facto autonomous status and provides its own social services. Issues of sexuality and gender are also salient in Senegal. LGBTQIA+ people regularly face societal protests and discrimination, and the country continues to criminalize consensual same-sex conduct. While Senegal is lauded for its leadership in women’s political participation, women continue to face major challenges, including a strict abortion ban and widespread gender-based violence.
Looking ahead, it will be important to monitor scores in key the indicators of Credible Elections and Basic Welfare. Opposition political movements faced significant challenges (including many legal proceedings) in the lead-up to the 2024 election, years, as public demand for democracy has remained high while satisfaction with institutional performance is low. The 2024 elections were held without incident after the Constitutional Court annulled their postponement, and the 2022 elections saw robust multiparty competition and no outright parliamentary majority, which are positive indicators for the future of democracy in the West African nation. As the new administration sets to work, Basic Welfare will be a indicator of the extent to which it is delivering the change that the Senegalese voted for.
(Last updated August 2024)
https://www.idea.int/democracytracker/
October 2024
Senegal authorises wearing of religious symbols in schools
On 8 October, Senegal’s Ministry of Education published a decree requiring all schools to allow students to wear religious symbols within the school premises, in the classroom and during educational activities. The decree follows recent comments made by the country’s Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, in which he appeared to criticise Catholic schools that did not allow students to wear the veil. While Catholic schools in Senegal (a constitutionally secular country) do not explicitly ban the veil, there have been occasions where veiled students have been prevented from attending class at such institutions and it is a highly contentious issue. There are over 300 Catholic schools in Senegal which, despite their religious affiliation, are attended by students from the Muslim majority.
Sources: Jeune Afrique, The Conversation, La Croix International, U.S. State Department
March 2024
Legislature approves amnesty covering preceding three years
On 6 March, the National Assembly of Senegal passed a law that provides a general amnesty for acts committed during protests and political events during the preceding three years. This law was approved in a tumultuous context that included the cancellation and rescheduling of the presidential election – a contest in which potential candidates had faced legal proceedings. The law benefits some opposition politicians, including the eventual winner of the presidential election, Bassirou Diomaye Faye and former leader of the African Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics and Fraternity (Patriotes africains du Sénégal pour le travail, l’éthique et la fraternité, PASTEF), Ousmane Sonko. However, the law also protects government officials involved in the deaths of protestors. Human rights advocates have criticised the law for providing impunity to those who were involved in the deaths of protestors. The law was promulgated on 13 March, and on 14 March Sonko and Faye were released from prison – 10 days before the election.
Sources: Jeune Afrique (1), Jeune Afrique (2), Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch
Bassirou Diomaye Faye wins presidential election
Senegal’s presidential election (originally scheduled for 25 February) was held on 24 March. Bassirou Diomaye Faye of the African Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics and Fraternity (Patriotes africains du Sénégal pour le travail, l’éthique et la fraternité, PASTEF) won the election in the first round, receiving 54.3 per cent of the valid votes. Amadou Ba of the ruling party Alliance for the Republic (Alliance pour la république, APR) came in second with 35.8 per cent of the vote. There was a total of 19 candidates for the office of president, only one of whom (Anta Babacar Ngom) is a woman. Turnout was 61.3 per cent of the registered voters, down from 66.3 per cent in 2019. International observers from the African Union (AU) and European Union (EU) both delivered positive assessments of the electoral process, at least in its final stages. However, the EU report noted that access to information during the electoral campaign was impeded by several temporary shut-downs of the mobile Internet networks.
Sources: Agence de Presse Sénégalaise, Le Quotidien, Jeune Afrique, African Union, European Union
February 2024
Controversy over election date, Constitutional Council rules it must go forward
On 3 February, President Macky Sall announced that the elections planned for 25 February would not take place. On 6 February, after chaotic scenes in the National Assembly during which opposition lawmakers were forcibly removed from the chamber, the legislature passed a law setting a new election date of 15 December. This postponement of the electoral process followed many months of controversy over the eligibility of several leading politicians in Senegal to run for the office of president. The Constitutional Council had released the list of eligible candidates on 21 January, excluding both Ousmane Sonko (due to criminal convictions) and Karim Wade (due to allegations that he holds French citizenship). However, opposition parties filed legal challenges to the postponement of the election, and on 15 February, the Constitutional Council ruled that the delay in holding the election was unconstitutional, and that the election should take place as soon as possible. On 16 February, President Sall pledged to implement the Constitutional Council’s ruling ‘without delay.’
Sources: Le Monde, Africa News, Al Jazeera, Le Soleil
July 2023
President Macky Sall announces he will not run for a third term
President Macky Sall announced in July 2023 that he will not seek a third term in office. He had publicly entertained the possibility of running again in 2024, claiming that the revision of the constitution in 2016 had effectively reset presidential term limits. While Sall’s claims regarding the legality of a third term were never settled by a court, leaders including the Chairperson of the African Union Commission and the Secretary General of the United Nations described Sall’s decision not to seek a third term as a positive example in the region.
Sources: Le Monde, Nation Africa, British Broadcasting Corporation
Opposition politician and prominent journalist arrested
Following his earlier convictions on charges of defamation (May) and corruption of youth (June), opposition politician Ousmane Sonko was arrested and faced further criminal charges at the end of July. Sonko was charged with nine serious offences, including plotting an insurrection and criminal association with terrorists. Sonko has been a frontrunning candidate for the 2024 presidential election, but his past convictions may disqualify him.
Following the latest charges against Sonko, the political party he leads, Patriots of Senegal (PASTEF), was legally dissolved through a decree issued by the Interior Minister.
The day after Sonko’s latest arrest, prominent journalist Papé Alé Niang was also arrested and charged with calling for insurrection. Niang had posted a video on social media discussing Sonko’s case.
Both Sonko and Niang began hunger strikes soon after being arrested.
Sources: Al Jazeera, Reuters, Le Monde, Committee to Protect Journalists, Amnesty International
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