Senegalese parliamentary election, 2012

Senegal
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Senegal
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Parliamentary elections were held in Senegal on 1 July 2012. The result was a victory for the United in Hope coalition supporting newly elected President Macky Sall, which won 119 of the 150 seats in the National Assembly.^[1] Voter turnout in the election was just 37%.^[1]

Background

Changes to the electoral law passed in 2010 made it mandatory for women to make up 50% of candidates on party lists.^[2] A total of 24 lists were submitted for the election, with over 7,000 candidates,^[2] including Laurence Gavron, the first white woman to run for election to Parliament.^[3]

Of the 150 seats in the National Assembly, 60 were elected through proportional representation and 90 in constituencies.^[2]

The election had originally been scheduled for 17 June 2012, but President Macky Sall announced a change of date after saying there was not enough time to prepare for it and that he had consulted the opposition Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) on the move.^[4]

Results

As a result of the new law on equal representation on party lists, 64 women were elected to the Assembly.^[1]

^a The United in Hope coalition included the Alliance for the Republic.^[5]

Aftermath

The pro-Sall United in Hope coalition won an overwhelming majority of seats in the National Assembly, 119 out of 150, while the PDS saw its share of seats plummet to only 12. The remaining 19 seats were distributed amongst an assortment of small parties. On 30 July 2012, one of Sall's most prominent allies, Moustapha Niasse, was elected as President of the National Assembly; he defeated a PDS deputy, Oumar Sarr.^[6] Niasse received 126 votes against 17 votes for Sarr; there were three blank votes.^[7] Eight vice-presidents were elected, including Awa Guèye as First Vice-President and Moustapha Cissé Lô as Second Vice-President.^[8] None of the vice-president posts went to a deputy from the opposition, leading it to complain that the majority had excluded it and ignored parliamentary tradition. While the opposition Liberals and Democrats Parliamentary Group was too few in number to guarantee it one of the posts, the opposition nevertheless felt that it should have been given a post for reasons of tradition and "dignity".^[9]

References

Elections and referendums in Senegal
Presidential elections	1963 1968 1973 1978 1983 1988 1993 2000 2007 2012
Parliamentary elections	1879 1881 1883 1885 1887 1889 1891 1893 1895 1897 1899 1901 1903 1905 1907 1909 1911 1913 1915 1917 1919 1920 1924 1928 1934 1946 1952 1957 1959 1963 1968 1973 1978 1983 1988 1993 1998 2001 2007 2012
French elections	1848 1849 1871 1879 1881 1885 1889 1893 1898 1902 1906 1910 1914 1919 1924 1928 1932 1934 1936 1945 1946 (Jun) 1946 (Nov) 1951 1956
Referendums	1945 1946 (May) 1946 (Oct) 1958 1963 1970 2001 2016