Citizens in Senegal trooped out to vote on Sunday to elect the country’s deputies, in an election expected to set the tone ahead of the 2024 Presidential race.
About 7 million voters were expected to participate in the polls to elect the 165 deputies in their National Assembly.
According to Senegal’s hybrid electoral system, 97 candidates who win a majority of votes in administrative departments are elected, while 53 from national lists are elected using proportional representation, and 15 are elected by Senegalese in the diaspora.
The elections are indicative of the opposition parties’ readiness to upstage the ruling party ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
There are widespread concerns that President Macky Sall may seek a third term. “It’s is the destiny of our people that is at stake today with these legislative elections. It is extraordinary. It is very important. People must vote.” , says El Hadji Ngagne Ndiaye, a voter in Dakar.
Former President Abdoulaye Wade was sighted in Point E Centre exercising his franchise. He arrived a day earlier from France to participate in the elections.
President Sall accompanied by First Lady Marieme Faye Sall, cast his vote in his native town of Fatick.
“I am hopeful that the election will be smooth. May God direct our affairs,” Oustaz Alioune, a voter enthused.
“We want to have a dynamic assembly. An assembly that represents and assists the people. The Senegalese people really need this,” says Madame Gomis quieting to vote in the capital.
Political unrest in June 2021 resulted in the injury and death of protesters.
The political atmosphere has remained charged lately, even more so since the list of the opposition leader Ousmane Sonko was rejected for this vote.