On 12 September 2024, President Faye dissolved Senegal’s National Assembly and announced that the country would hold its parliamentary elections on 17 November 2024. The Patriots of Senegal (Pastef) won a majority of the 165 seats up for election, obtaining 130. The coalition Takku Wallu Senegal secured 16 seats, while the Jam ak Njarin coalition won seven seats. The elections come nearly 8 months after the Presidential polls and at a time when Senegal faces increasing challenges.
MEWC will update the following analysis as relevant data and information becomes available.
On 17 November 2024, the Republic of Senegal held a snap parliamentary election. It comes nearly eight months after its Presidential polls in March 2024. President Bassirou Diomaye Faye dissolved the National Assembly on 12 September 2024, exactly two years since the parliament’s first session, and announced the date for the parliamentary elections. Under the Constitution of Senegal, the President may not dissolve the National Assembly during its first two years of the legislature but may do so once the two-year period has passed.
President Faye said difficulties working with the opposition-led parliament made the suspension of the National Assembly and subsequent snap parliamentary election necessary. He claimed the opposition prevented him from realising the pledges made during the presidential campaign, such as fighting corruption and securing a larger share of the country’s national resources for the Senegalese population.
The Patriots of Senegal (Pastef), led by Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko won a landslide victory in the 2024 elections, obtaining 130 out of the 165 seats. The coalition Takku Wallu Senegal, led by former President Macky Sall, won 16 seats and the Jam ak Njarin coalition, led by former Prime Minister Amadou Ba, 7. Other coalitions securing three seats or less make up the remaining 12 seats. The members of the National Assembly are elected to serve a five-year term.
Interest in the election was higher than in the previous parliamentary poll, increasing from 46.6% in 2022 to 49.5% in 2024. Of the registered voters, 49.7% are women, and 50.3% are men. Among the top issues for Senegalese voters were corruption, employment, the economy, addressing the high cost of living, and reforming the fishing industry.
The parliamentary election comes after a period of political tension and unrest and growing economic challenges, such as inflation and high unemployment, especially among the youth. Senegal faces a debt crisis after the government claimed that “the budget deficit was much wider than reported by the previous government.” The current economic challenges have put a $1.9 billion IMF programme on hold. Additionally, the President and Prime Minister also faced criticism over their response to record flooding and the ongoing migration crisis.
During the campaign, there were reports of incidents of violence and “incendiary comments from both sides.” Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko reportedly urged his supporters to take revenge, after they allegedly came under attack. As the ballots were being counted, former President Sall said “the vote was married by massive fraud organised by Pastef.”
Women’s political participation and representation
Initial data suggests that women make up 44.2% (73 out of 165) of the newly elected members of the National Assembly following the 2024 parliamentary elections. MEWC has yet to obtain official data on the percentage of women elected in 2024. Nevertheless, based on the initial data, the percentage of women elected to the National Assembly remains the same as following the 2022 polls, when women also obtained 44.2% of the seats.
Among the women elected to the National Assembly in 2024 is Thérèse Faye Diouf of the Alliance for the Republic (APR) party. She previously served as Minister of Women’s Affairs, community development and social equality. She was also the first woman to be elected mayor of Diarrère in the Fatick region.
Senegal remains the country in the West African region with the highest percentage of women in national parliaments. Female representation is also high at the local levels, with 47.23% women elected in 2022. The country, however, has yet to achieve parity in national and local elected office and other leadership positions. For example, in 2022, women represented 18.8% of committee chairs in the National Assembly. In 2023, 14.29% of the governors and 28.57% of assistant governors were women. Women hold four (13.3%) of the 30 ministers and secretaries in the current cabinet. Additionally, while Senegal has had two female prime ministers - Mame Madior Boye elected in 2001 and Aminata Touré elected in 2013 – it has yet to achieve a female President.
Legal and policy reforms on women’s rights
Senegal has enacted several reforms aimed at strengthening women’s rights. Concerning political rights, the country uses legislated quotas at the national and local levels. Senegal is one of four African countries that have set its gender quota target at 50%. The 2010 Gender Parity Law establishes equal representation of women and men in elected positions. It states that candidate lists for legislative elections should respect parity between women and men. The Law also mandates the zebra system when distributing female and male candidates throughout the list. Moreover, lists that do not comply with the provisions of parity and gender alternation will not be accepted. The adoption of the Gender Parity law has had a positive impact on women’s representation as it increased from 22% in 2007 to 42.7% in 2012 to 44.2% in 2022.
Prior to the November 2024 parliamentary elections, the Constitutional Council granted an exemption for parliamentary candidates as the Council deemed the timeframe too short for contestants to meet the requirements of the 2021 Electoral Code. Under the Code, candidates for parliamentary elections must collect “support signatures from between 0.5 % and 0.8% of registered voters, with at least 1,000 signatures of support from each region of Senegal.”
Other legislative reforms concern women’s rights in employment and protection against violence. Regarding women’s rights in the workplace, the Labour Code prohibits gender-based discrimination in employment and the dismissal of pregnant workers. The Penal Code provides criminal penalties for sexual harassment in employment and also addresses domestic violence. In 2020 Senegal adopted a law criminalising rape with penalties of a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life.
In May 2024, President Faye proposed to develop, in collaboration with Senegalese women’s organisations, a “framework for a law focused on the sustainable economic empowerment of women.” MEWC has found no further information on the proposed initiative.
Regarding policy reforms, Senegal has adopted, for example, the National Strategy for Gender Equity and Equality (SNEEG 2016-2026). It aims to eliminate gender inequalities, ensure women’s participation in decision-making processes and provide equitable access to developmental resources and benefits. It also mandates gender budgeting at the national level.
Challenges to women’s political participation
While more Senegalese women actively participate in political and public life, however, various barriers to their full and equal participation persist. Senegalese society remains patriarchal and conservative, with traditional views of women and their role in society.
Women who engage in politics are often “more scrutinised” and held to a higher standard than their male counterparts. Senegalese women in politics face resistance and suspicion. Ms Thérèse Faye Diouf, a newly elected member of parliament, shared that her father was reluctant to allow her to participate in politics. She was accused of being a part of a foiled coup d’état, but was cleared cleared of the charges. Moreover, some men are reluctant to support women who seek higher office. When she ran for mayor, Ms Faye Diouf said a male voter initially did not want a female mayor; he later realised that women are more effective in governance than men.
Another barrier to women’s political participation is a lack or weak implementation of legislation. During the 2022 elections, Senegalese women called on the government to respect the gender parity law, noting that “parity is not a privilege granted to women. It is an inclusive device allowing half of the population to access political positions on the same basis as men.”
There are also other legal barriers, such as some laws containing discriminatory provisions. For example, Under the Family Code, a woman cannot be "head of family/household" and does not have the same right to remarry as a man. Furthermore, the Code does not grant sons and daughters equal rights to inherit assets from their parents. It also does not provide female and male surviving spouses equal rights to inherit assets. Additionally, the law does not prohibit discrimination in access to credit based on gender or ensure equal remuneration for work of equal value. Inequalities such as these can negatively impact the rights of Senegalese women and their opportunities to participate in political and public life. There are currently no provisions on direct public funding to political parties concerning gender equality among candidates.
Political parties in Senegal tend to favour male over female candidates. Men are often placed at the top of candidate lists, giving them a numerical advantage on oddly numbered lists as there is one more male candidate. Reports also suggest that many political parties do not fully comply with the Gender Parity Law. Some parties ignore their candidate lists once the election is completed and put men in elected positions. Some suggest this can help explain why Senegal has yet to achieve parity.
Senegalese women advocating for change
Senegalese women actively advocate for women’s rights and increased female participation in decision-making processes at all levels. As members of women’s groups and representatives in the National Assembly, they advocate for women’s rights and have played key roles in the adoption of women’s rights legislation, such as the 2010 Gender Parity Law. While they initially struggled to get support as some male politicians and religious leaders “were uncomfortable with a parity law because it suggested women were equal to men”, Senegalese women’s groups’ campaign to adopt a quota was ultimately successful.
Women’s groups and female members of parliament are also calling for parity to be extended to the cabinet and for women in the private sector in Senegal. Many were disappointed when the new cabinet, although notable for its youth, included just four women. Among those raising their voices over the gender imbalance was the Citizens’ Collective for the Respect and Preservation of Women’s Rights in Senegal. The Collective and other feminist organisations called for, among others, the government to appoint more women to “national and administrative roles and strengthening gender units across ministries to ensure the comprehensive implementation” of SNEEG.
The implementation of the 2010 Quota has, according to advocates and members of parliament, had a positive impact not only on female representation but also on women’s rights legislation in Senegal. Female members of parliament (MPs) and ministers have introduced several legislative reforms on women’s rights. For example, Ms Toure, then Minister of Justice, introduced a bill that would permit Senegalese women married to foreigners to pass their nationality onto their children. In 2013, parliament adopted the law. Female MPs, along with civil society, pushed for the 2020 law criminalising rape.
Other CSOs and activists have raised awareness about the impact of female representation in decision-making roles in ensuring diverse perspectives and fostering inclusive and democratic governance. Following the 2022 parliamentary elections, CSOs, like the Association of Senegalese Women Lawyers, campaigned for a female speaker of the National Assembly. They were ultimately unsuccessful. A woman has yet to be elected speaker.
Organisations, such as Task Force, an alliance of civil society and medical associations, are campaigning for rape and incest to be included in abortion law. Currently, the law only allows for abortion when a woman’s life is at risk. Others, such as JGEN, campaign to set the legal age of marriage for girls at 18. It is currently 16.
Conclusion
Following the 2024 snap parliamentary elections, Pastef secured the majority of the seats in the National Assembly, obtaining 130 out of 165. The coalition Takku Wallu Senegal came in second with 16 seats, followed by Jam ak Niarin with 7. Additional coalitions split the remaining 12 sets. At the time of writing, MEWC has not yet obtained official data on the percentage of women elected to the National Assembly. However, initial data suggests that women comprise 44.2% of the newly elected members of parliament, the same as following the 2022 elections.
Since the implementation of the Gender Parity Law, women’s representation at the national and local levels has increased. While Senegal is moving closer to parity in the legislature, women’s representation in other leadership positions remains low. Few women occupy leadership positions in the National Assembly. Four of the 30 ministers and secretaries are women in the current cabinet. Moreover, a woman has yet to be elected Speaker of the National Assembly or President of the Republic of Senegal.
The implementation of the quota has also had a positive impact on the adoption of women’s rights legislation. Senegalese women’s rights groups and female members of the National Assembly have led many of these efforts. Despite the progress made and achievements realised concerning women's political participation, challenges remain. Senegalese women’s groups, activists and female political leaders work tirelessly to address existing inequalities and challenges. As more Senegalese women engage in politics, as voters, activists, advocates, candidates and members of parliament and hold leadership positions, their commitment may lead to a more equal and inclusive society.