What is at stake in Senegal’s parliamentary elections

Senegal votes in parliamentary polls on Sunday, eight months after electing new leaders promising profound political change.
What is at stake and who are the main players in the West African country’s snap elections?
– Main issues –
The 7.3 million registered voters will choose whether to hand a parliamentary majority to newly elected President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and his Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko.
Faye and Sonko swept to victory in March on a ticket of economic transformation, social justice and a fight against corruption -– raising hopes among a largely youthful population facing high inflation and widespread unemployment.
They also pledged to diversify political and economic partnerships and re-establish Senegal’s sovereignty, which they claimed had been sold abroad.
But an opposition-dominated parliament hampered the government’s first months in power, leading Faye to dissolve the chamber in September and call snap elections as soon as the constitution allowed him to do so.
Voters will on Sunday continue a long democratic tradition in Senegal, widely seen as an outlier in a region where military regimes also claim to be pushing agendas of sovereignty and pan-Africanism.
Senegal’s new leaders would need a three-fifths parliamentary majority to implement any proposed constitutional changes, without them having to go to a referendum.
The same goes for indicting former president Macky Sall, which has been suggested by Sall’s longtime political foe, Sonko.
The opposition has warned against handing overwhelming power to an administration they deem extremist and incompetent.
– Who will win? –
Analysts say Senegalese voters have historically confirmed their presidential choice during parliamentary elections.
“The presidential election was for or against (the outgoing president) Macky Sall, here it will be for or against Ousmane Sonko,” said El Hadji Mamadou Mbaye, a political science lecturer and researcher at the University of Saint-Louis.
“Ousmane Sonko is continuing to build on his popularity from the presidential election, and people have realised that they need a majority to be able to implement public policies,” he added.
The opposition is scattered, with voters choosing between 41 party lists.
But some solid coalitions have formed, said political science professor Maurice Soudieck Dione.
The opposition says that Sonko has said a lot but done little in the past eight months.
Unemployment stands at over 20 percent and scores continue to risk their lives every month in a bid to reach Europe by boat.
The government said an audit of public finances revealed a wider budget deficit than previously announced, with the International Monetary Fund suspending an aid programme pending the audit’s review.
“There may be a warning from the electorate,” Dione said.
– Key players –
– Highly influential Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko is the lead candidate for the ruling Pastef party.
His bid to run for president was blocked after a three-year deadly standoff with the former authorities, but his endorsement of Faye was pivotal in getting the new president elected.
Known for his fiery rhetoric, Sonko called for vengeance after attacks against his supporters during the election campaign, but later urged calm.
– Former president Macky Sall led the country from 2012 until 2024 but stepped aside in April after triggering one of the worst crises in decades with a last-minute postponement of the presidential election.
He is leading the Takku Wallu Senegal coalition from abroad, breaking with the political restraint normally adopted by former presidents.
– Former prime minister and presidential runner-up Amadou Ba is heading the Jamm Ak Njarin coalition, after having distanced himself from his previous boss, Sall.
– Former Sonko ally and current mayor of the capital Dakar, Barthelemy Dias, is leading the Samm Sa Kaddu coalition.
He was sentenced in 2022 after being convicted of killing a man during a wave of political violence in 2011.
– Voting process –
Voters will elect 165 MPs for five-year terms.
All party lists must respect gender parity, but women head none of the lists.
Polling stations open at 8:00 am and close at 6:00 pm.
Reliable projections of the new parliament could be available from Monday morning.
By Laurent Lozano