The Election in Senegal

Senegal has just had an election. It is a regional power in West Africa and often admired for either its influential position or its relatively peaceful and free political system. After standing still in terms of GDP per capita for decades, Senegal has seen significant growth in the past decade and a half, as many African countries have. Its GDP per capita still puts it among the world’s poor however, at $1,714 on a Purchasing Power Parity basis.

The country has a proud political history since independence, having never suffered a coup. Senegal’s first president resigned in 1981. The second president stayed in office until 2000, when he was defeated in a free election by Abdoulaye Wade. Upon coming to office Wade, and his supporters in the National Assembly and Senate, shortened the length of presidential terms, from seven years to five, and imposed term limits that held a president to no more than two terms. The shortening of presidential terms was to take effect after Wade finished his first term. The limiting of terms, Wade said, would apply to him, for the limits had been imposed when Wade was still serving his first term.

Wade easily won his re-election in 2007. Upon winning a second term Wade, and his supporters in the National Assembly and Senate, increased the length of presidential terms from five to seven years, though the extension did not apply to Wade’s second term. He then said that he no longer considered the two term limit to apply to him, since he was elected before the term limits were adopted. He announced he would run for a third, and seven year long, term. When the country’s constitutional court agreed with his interpretation large and sometimes violent protests gripped the country for weeks. Many observers declared Wade had pulled off a “constitutional coup” and jeopardized Senegal’s proud political history.

Wade’s opponents decided to fight him at the ballot box, trusting in the country’s institutions. Wade was defeated on Sunday in a run-off election against his former Prime Minister, Macky Sall. Wade conceded defeat and has promised to step down as president, marking the second time an opposition candidate has successfully unseated a president in a free election, a rare success in the region. Wade threatened Senegal’s institutions, history, and future trajectory. But the people of Senegal have won an incredible victory, not because of the politics of the contenders, but because the country’s institutions, civil society and political culture have proven Senegal as a nation to be stronger than the person who holds power.