Senegalese Electoral Commission on Thursday announced the ruling coalition has lost its absolute majority in the Parliament after Sunday’s elections, reported The Africa News.
The national vote-counting commission declared that the ruling coalition, which includes President Macky Sall’s party Alliance for the Republic (APR) and other parties- won 82 seats of the National Assembly’s 165 seats. The coalition lost 43 seats from the 125 it secured in 2017.
The main opposition coalition Yewwi Askane Wi won 56 seats, while its ally Wallu Senegal won 24 seats. The three remaining seats were won by smaller groups, who now hold the balance of power.
Some seven million Senegalese were eligible to vote in the election in order to choose between 8 coalitions. The interior ministry said the participation rate was 47 percent. International observers from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Collective of Civil Society Organisations for the Elections (COSCE) said the voting was peaceful and transparent.
On Monday, both the opposition and Sall’s ruling coalition claimed to have won the vote.
According to political experts, the election outcome reflects Senegalese people’s dissatisfaction with President Sall, who has not ruled out running for a third term in office. The term limit is currently two.
The president, who was elected in 2012 for seven years and re-elected in 2019 for five years, has so far remained vague about his future plans. He has, however, promised to appoint a prime minister, a position which he abolished in 2019 and reinstated in December 2021, from the winning party of Sunday’s election.
The Senegalese Supreme Court will publish the final figures within five days of the announcement, if no parties appeal the results.
On Wednesday, the main opposition coalition had appealed the National Commission for the Census of Votes to suspend the publication of the results to examine complaints over alleged irregularities and fraud during the one-round election.
