2007 Senegalese presidential election
← 2000 25 February 2007 2012 →
Turnout70.62% (Increase 9.87 pp)
 
Candidate Abdoulaye Wade Idrissa Seck
Party PDS Rewmi
Popular vote 1,914,403 510,922
Percentage 55.90% 14.92%
 
Candidate Ousmane Tanor Dieng Moustapha Niasse
Party PS AFP
Popular vote 464,287 203,129
Percentage 13.56% 5.93%
President before election

Abdoulaye Wade
PDS

Elected President

Abdoulaye Wade
PDS

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Presidential elections were held in Senegal on 25 February 2007. Incumbent president Abdoulaye Wade was re-elected in the first round with almost 56% of the vote.[1][2]

Background

Wade announced the date for the election on 13 April 2006.[3] The election campaign officially began on 4 February 2007.[4] Soldiers voted early on 17 February and 18 February; this was the first time in the country's history that soldiers were allowed to vote.[5]

Had a run-off been necessary, it would have been held on 18 March 2007.[6] A parliamentary election was initially intended to be held on 25 February as well, but it was delayed to 3 June 2007.[7]

Candidates

15 candidates ran for President, including Wade.[4] Wade was nominated as the presidential candidate of his party, the Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS), on 15 October 2006.[8] Idrissa Seck, a former Prime Minister who was once considered Wade's protégé, also ran. Seck announced his candidacy for President in April 2006; he had been arrested in 2005 on charges of embezzlement and threatening state security but never faced a trial and was eventually released in February 2006.[9][10] On January 22, 2007, Wade said that Seck had agreed to return to the ruling PDS;[11] Seck subsequently confirmed this, but said that he would remain a presidential candidate. If he had withdrawn his candidacy, the law would have required that the election be delayed,[12] but shortly afterwards the National Assembly voted to change the law so that a delay would not be necessary in the event of a candidate's withdrawal.[13]

Ousmane Tanor Dieng ran as the candidate of the former ruling Socialist Party (PS).[14] Former Prime Minister Moustapha Niasse ran as the candidate of a coalition of opposition parties, including his own Alliance of the Forces of Progress (AFP).[15] Other candidates included Abdoulaye Bathily of the Democratic League/Movement for the Labour Party (LD/MPT),[16] Landing Savané, a Minister of State and the Secretary-General of And-Jëf/African Party for Democracy and Socialism (AJ/PADS),[17] Ziguinchor Mayor Robert Sagna,[18] and former ambassador Modou Dia.[19]

Campaign

Wade faced criticism over a variety of issues, including unemployment and the continuing Casamance conflict, as well as alleged corruption and the delays of the parliamentary election. Major construction projects undertaken by Wade split opinion in the country. Wade's campaign called for the people to give him a majority of the vote in the first round, but it was widely expected that a second round would be necessary, and Wade's opponents denied the possibility that he could legitimately win a first-round majority. Many politicians who had backed Wade in 2000 had since turned against him, which could be viewed as making it improbable that Wade would do as well in 2007; on the other hand, it has been pointed out that Senegal's demographics, with a high proportion of young people in the electorate, could make it difficult to compare the two elections.[20]

Results

Shortly after the election was held, Prime Minister Macky Sall, who was also Wade's campaign manager, said that Wade had won the election in the first round with about 57% of the vote, based on initial results.[21] According to results announced on 1 March, Wade won about 1.9 million votes, about 55.9% of the total. Seck was in second place with 14.9% of the vote and Tanor Dieng was in third place with 13.6%. Voter turnout was said to be 70.5%.[1] Wade won the most votes in 32 out of 34 of the country's departments, including a majority in 28 of them. Seck won the department of Thiès and Niasse won the department of Nioro.[22]

Abdoulaye Bathily's campaign rejected the results and alleged that there were flaws in the voting, saying that a person could be registered more than once, and that the ink used in voting, which was supposed to be indelible, could be washed off.[1] Ousmane Tanor Dieng's spokesperson also rejected the results,[23] and on 5 March Dieng filed a Constitutional Court appeal regarding alleged lack of transparency and irregularities.[24]

Final results from the Constitutional Council on 11 March gave Wade 55.90%, Seck 14.92%, and Dieng 13.56%. The Council rejected appeals from Dieng and Bathily.[2] Wade was sworn in on 3 April at the Leopold Sedar Senghor Stadium in Dakar, with many African leaders and about 60,000 spectators in attendance.[25]

CandidatePartyVotes%
Abdoulaye WadeSenegalese Democratic Party1,914,40355.90
Idrissa SeckRewmi510,92214.92
Ousmane Tanor DiengSocialist Party464,28713.56
Moustapha NiasseAlliance of the Forces of Progress203,1295.93
Robert SagnaTakku Defaraat Sénégal88,4462.58
Abdoulaye BathilyDemocratic League/Movement for the Labour Party75,7972.21
Landing SavanéAnd-Jëf/African Party for Democracy and Socialism70,7802.07
Talla SyllaAlliance for Progress and Justice/Jëf-Jël18,0220.53
Cheikh Bamba DièyeFront for Socialism and Democracy/Benno Jubël17,2330.50
Mamadou Lamine DialloTekki Taaru Sénéga16,5700.48
Mama Adama GuèyeIndependent13,7000.40
Doudou NdoyeUnion for Progress and Renewal9,9180.29
Alioune MbayeIndependent9,0160.26
Louis Jacques SenghorMovement for the Liberation of the Senegalese People8,2120.24
Modou DiaIndependent4,4910.13
Total3,424,926100.00
Valid votes3,424,92698.62
Invalid/blank votes47,7861.38
Total votes3,472,712100.00
Registered voters/turnout4,917,15770.62
Source: African Elections Database

References

  1. ^ a b c Diadie Ba, "Senegal's Wade re-elected, warns opposition" Archived 2007-10-01 at the Wayback Machine, Reuters (Mail & Guardian Online), 2 March 2007.
  2. ^ a b "Le texte intégral de la décision du Conseil constitutionnel", Agence de Presse Sénégalaise (Seneweb.com), 11 March 2007 (in French).
  3. ^ "Senegal elections set for 25 February 2007" Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Liberal International, Issue 35.
  4. ^ a b "La 1ère journée de campagne électorale peu animée au Sénégal"[permanent dead link], African Press Agency, 4 February 2007 (in French).
  5. ^ "Military and paramilitary voting ends in Senegal"[permanent dead link], African Press Agency, 18 February 2007.
  6. ^ "Senegalese to vote for president in Sunday polls" Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine, DPA, 22 February 2007.
  7. ^ "Senegal hopes for elections in June". Independent Online. Sapa-AFP (African Press Agency). 19 January 2007. Archived from the original on 10 June 2023. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  8. ^ "Wade nominated for February 2007 presidential elections" Archived 2007-12-22 at the Wayback Machine, African Press Agency, 16 October 2006.
  9. ^ "President’s onetime protégé to run for election", IRIN, 5 April 2006.
  10. ^ "Seck will challenge Wade in Senegal election". Independent Online. Reuters. 5 April 2006. Archived from the original on 10 June 2023. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  11. ^ "Wade makes peace with former prime minister". Independent Online. Reuters. 23 January 2007. Archived from the original on 10 June 2023. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  12. ^ "Former Senegalese Premier returns to ruling party, but insists on presidency"[permanent dead link], African Press Agency, 1 February 2007.
  13. ^ "Senegalese MPs remove electoral article from constitution"[permanent dead link], African Press Agency, 8 February 2007.
  14. ^ "Ousmane Tanor Dieng teste pour la première fois sa représentativité électorale"[permanent dead link], African Press Agency, 4 February 2007 (in French).
  15. ^ "Senegalese opposition leader heads new coalition"[permanent dead link], African Press Agency, 22 December 2006.
  16. ^ "Abdoulaye Bathily, un ancien allié de Wade à l’assaut du pouvoir"[permanent dead link], African Press Agency, 5 February 2007 (in French).
  17. ^ "Un allié de Me Wade candidat à la présidentielle de février 2007"[permanent dead link], African Press Agency, 13 November 2006 (in French).
  18. ^ "Robert Sagna running for presidency in Senegal"[permanent dead link], African Press Agency, 6 February 2007.
  19. ^ "L’ancien ambassadeur Modou Dia veut faire décoller le Sénégal à l’horizon 2017"[permanent dead link], African Press Agency, 4 February 2007 (in French).
  20. ^ "Senegal surprises itself at the ballot box" Archived 2007-03-07 at the Wayback Machine, Angus Reid Global Monitor, 5 March 2007.
  21. ^ "Wade’s side claims victory in first round of Senegalese presidential poll"[permanent dead link], African Press Agency, 26 February 2007.
  22. ^ "Abdoulaye Wade passe au premier tour avec 55,07 %, selon des chiffres provisoires", Agence de Presse Sénégalaise (Seneweb.com), 1 March 2007 (in French).
  23. ^ "Dieng challenges election results in Senegal". Independent Online. Reuters. 28 February 2007. Archived from the original on 14 September 2017. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  24. ^ "Loser claims fraud in Senegal polls", Al Jazeera, 5 March 2007.
  25. ^ "Wade sworn in for second term". Independent Online. Sapa-AFP. 4 April 2007. Archived from the original on 10 June 2023. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
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