The mandate of departmental and municipal councilors will be renewed on January 23, 2022. More than 6.8 million Senegalese are called upon to decide between 3,200 lists in more than 500 municipalities and 46 departments. These local elections, postponed several times, are part of a political landscape in full effervescence. Interview with Mamadou Seck, electoral expert and founder of the consulting firm Synapsus Consulting.
franceinfo Africa: why were these elections which were to be held in 2019 postponed ?
Mamadou Seck: the Senegal has never held expired local elections. This country, where we have been voting since 1848, should nevertheless be able to meet its deadlines. All the regimes have postponed them. I can’t say if these elections were always for strategic issues or just because the successive powers have no consideration for these local elections compared to the general elections (legislative and presidential). With regard to this election of January 23, the postponements were justified in particular by the pandemic. But no objectively acceptable reason has been put forward since Senegal has always had the means to organize its elections. It is really the state that has dragged its feet over questions, it seems, of political tactics. The power wishing to organize this election at the time when it would be most favorable to it.
What are the stakes of this election ?
They are both structural and situational. First, until then in Senegal, we elected a municipal council which then appointed a mayor. Voters ultimately did not know who they were voting for. From now on, the mayor will be elected by direct universal suffrage. This is the first structural issue and it is an essential change. The second is related to the fact that we can no longer excuse, for example, Senegal for certain mistakes related to the organization of elections because we have been voting for a very long time. Each vote is an exercise in deepening our democracy. The third issue refers to parity, to the participation of women in the political process. The fact of testing for the second time the law of full parity (alternation between men and women on the electoral lists) proves to be important to know if the Senegalese are ready to be governed by women, especially in the more reactionary rural world. What is not earned. Of the 557 municipal councils in the country, 14 are now led by women. As for the approximately 3,000 electoral lists submitted for these elections, only 104 are led by women..
These elections are also a test to measure the solidity of our political alliances. Strong coalitions have emerged against those in power, Benno Bokk Yakaar, but one has the impression that they are against nature. They were formed against President Macky Sall. They are not based on ideals to which the participants would have adhered beforehand. Consequently, they risk being shattered by the legislative elections and, above all, in view of the presidential election because they are formed, among others, by personalities who have already shown their colours. Example: the Yewwi Askan Wi (Yaw) coalition led by Khalifa Sall, the former mayor of Dakar, and the opponent Ousmane Sonko (who has become essential on the political scene, editor’s note). Both no longer hide their presidential ambitions.
Another element to highlight : this ballot is similar to the mid-term elections in the United States (midterm elections) where we try to insert ballots to balance the political forces during the duration of a presidential mandate. The fact of organizing these elections represents an opportunity for the opposition which can thus access elective mandates. The stake for the power, being to avoid a disappointment and to see the opposition deprive him of the majority in the Assembly. As such, this election is also a test before the legislative elections which will be held in five months because the electoral divisions for these two elections are, in certain respects, sometimes very similar. A victory for the presidential camp in the local elections could thus inform him about his legitimacy and his popularity.
Finally, never in the political history of Senegal, we have had so many lists submitted for an election : more than 3,000 against some 2,700 for the previous ones in 2014 and around 1,900 in 2009. We have never experienced such intense political competition. This means that all the political actors are in the process of positioning themselves, in particular for the presidential election.
To what extent are these elections also decisive for Ousmane Sonko, candidate for mayor of Ziguinchor, the largest city in Casamance?
Ousmane Sonko is a young political leader who holds the dragee high in Macky Sall. Young people can identify with someone who has also bet on them and social networks with the hazards that entails. The Senegalese population is predominantly young. It cannot therefore be concealed in the political space. Regarding his legal troubles, Ousmane Sonko was able to resist. He understood that the response was essentially political and he was carried by an almost general disapproval of public opinion which saw how Karim Wade (the son of the former Senegalese president) was imprisoned or Khalifa Sall, the former mayor of Dakar, was imprisoned. In other words, the Senegalese witnessed how Macky Sall brushed off potential opponents. Today, we have the impression that these accusations contribute to restoring the image of Ousmane Sonko. This story will have allowed him to test his political aura and to position himself as the main opponent of Macky Sall. The possibility that he could become mayor of Ziguinchor, thanks to the grand coalition to which he belongs, says a lot about his popularity. If he is elected, which would be a snub to the judiciary, we will have a leading political figure, deputy-mayor, and that will strengthen him in his political position.
Dakar remains the object of all desires…
It is the capital and it is very coveted. Barthélémy Dias, close to Khalifa Sall, is the candidate of the Yewwi Askan Wi coalition. Facing him, there is Doudou Wade, the former president of the parliamentary group of the PDS (Senegalese Democratic Party) or Pape Diop, the former president of the National Assembly from the PDS who dissented. The Minister of Health Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr for the ruling coalition and the Chief of Staff of the President of the Republic Mame Mbaye Niang are also candidates. This shows the complexity of a situation where the Head of State lets the competition take place between his Minister of Health and his chief of staff. Macky Sall thus seems to increase his chances of remaining indirectly in the political game and of protecting his back after his departure from the presidency. In Senegal, we have never had so much controversy around local elections and it is precisely due to all these issues.