2001 Senegalese parliamentary election

2001 Senegalese parliamentary election

29 April 2001

All 120 seats in the National Assembly 60 seats needed for a majority

Party Leader % Seats +/– Sopi Coalition Abdoulaye Wade 49.58 89 +63 AFP Moustapha Niasse 16.13 11 New Socialist Ousmane Tanor Dieng 17.36 10 −83 URD Djibo Leyti Kâ 3.68 3 −8 AJ/PADS Landing Savané 4.05 2 −2 Liberal Ousmane Ngom 0.92 1 New PPC Mbaye-Jacques Diop 0.91 1 New APJ/Jëf-Jël 0.80 1 New RND 0.71 1 0 PIT 0.58 1 0 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

Parliamentary elections were held in Senegal on 29 April 2001 to elect members of the National Assembly. They were the first held under the new constitution approved by a referendum earlier in the year. Following the victory of Abdoulaye Wade in the February–March 2000 presidential election, the Sopi Coalition, including Wade's Senegalese Democratic Party and its allies, won a large majority.

After Wade was elected president, he entered a situation of cohabitation with the Socialist Party, which still held an overwhelming majority of seats in the National Assembly. Wade was constitutionally barred from dissolving the National Assembly and calling a new parliamentary election, but he decided to revise the constitution and said that he would not pursue policy initiatives in the meantime. Since he was not seeking new legislation, he did not need to compromise with the National Assembly, which simply approved the budget and adjourned. The Socialist Party did not object to Wade's constitutional changes, which included giving the President the right to dissolve the National Assembly, and the new constitution easily passed a referendum in January 2001. Wade then dissolved the National Assembly and called a new parliamentary election. The Socialist-controlled upper house of Parliament, the Senate, was abolished by the referendum.

Although Wade was barred by the January 2001 Constitution from addressing rallies during the election campaign and the Sopi Coalition was not allowed to use his picture on its ballot papers, Wade actively and prominently participated in the Sopi campaign, drawing criticism from opponents. Wade urged the people to vote for the Sopi Coalition so that he could govern effectively with a secure majority.

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Sopi Coalition (PSD–LD/MPT)	931,617	49.58	89	+63
	Alliance of the Forces of Progress	303,150	16.13	11	New
	Socialist Party	326,126	17.36	10	–83
	Union for Democratic Renewal	69,109	3.68	3	–8
	And-Jëf/African Party for Democracy and Socialism	76,102	4.05	2	–2
	Senegalese Liberal Party	17,240	0.92	1	New
	Party for Progress and Citizenship	17,122	0.91	1	New
	Alliance for Progress and Justice/Jëf-Jël	15,048	0.80	1	New
	National Democratic Rally	13,286	0.71	1	0
	Party of Independence and Labour	10,854	0.58	1	0
	Others	99,192	5.28	0	–
Total		1,878,846	100.00	120	–20
Valid votes		1,878,846	99.41
Invalid/blank votes		11,082	0.59
Total votes		1,889,928	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		2,804,352	67.39
Source: African Elections Database

External links

• BBC news on the election
• Report from Afrol news on the election
• Press reaction to the election