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Senegal

Franchise & Registration

  • Franchise Age: 18
  • Compulsory Vote: Not compulsory
  • Eligibility Exception: conviction for crime, imprisonment of specified length for certain offences, contempt of court, undischarged bankruptcy

Election Management & Enforcement

  • Nameof EMB: Autonomous National Election Commission (Commission électorale nationale autonome, C.E.N.A)
  • Independent EMB: No
  • EMBNominations: 12 members
  • EMBTenure: 6 years
  • Who Runs Election: Election Management Body
  • Nameof Elect Enforcement Body: COnstitutional Court

Candidacy & Campaign Rules

  • Restrictto Candidacy: Qualified electors; age: 25 years; Senegalese citizenship; fulfillment of all requirements regarding active military service; naturalized foreigners and women having acquired Senegalese nationality by marriage : after a period of 10 years from the date of their naturalization. Ineligibility: guardianship, conviction preventing registration on electoral list, Governors and their deputies, judges and other senior officials of national services and public institutions, membership of the Economic and Social Council, employment for foreign States or international organizations, executive in a State enterprise, State-assisted company, savings and credit organization or company holding a government contract, Ministers of the Government, members of the armed or police forces on active duty. Requirements: lists must be submitted by political parties, coalitions of parties or independent persons no later than 50 days prior to the election date; lists under the majority system include substitutes whose number is equal to the number of seats available; national lists under the proportional representation system must include 50 substitutes; half of each party's candidates (both for titular members and substitutes) must be women; gender parity is applied to all lists. The gender in lists with candidates and substitutes has to alternate. If there is an odd number of candidates, the number of the less represented gender will be the immediately lesser even number.” If only one member in a department is to be elected, the member and the substitute must be of the opposite sex. Independent candidates must obtain the supporting signature of 10,000 voters registered in six regions (at least 500 voters from each region); monetary deposit, reimbursed if the list concerned obtains at least one seat in the National Assembly.
  • Debate Format: /
  • Opinion Polls Embargo: No embargo

Electoral System & Organisation

  • Elect System Main Election: Mixed
  • Main Election Type: Presidential
  • Main Election Cycle: 7
  • Numb Round Main Election: Two
  • Referenda_Law: Constitution 2012, art. 103
  • Referenda_Binding: Always Binding
  • Voting Machine: None
  • Vote IDRequired: ID check compulsory
  • Polling Card: Polling card compulsory
  • Districting Flexibility: The National Assembly comprises 150 members of whom 90 are elected from multi-member constituencies and the remaining 60 members are elected from a single nationwide constituency.
  • Election Night Traditions: Ban of weapons in election offices (article 75 of the Law on Elections). There is a prison sentence for violence on Election Day. There is also a prohibition for selling or buying gasoline in cans or plastic containers from the beginning of the electoral campaign and until results are proclaimed. No specific provision regarding alcohol.

Polling Station

  • Average Voterby Polling Station: 600
  • Normal Opening Time Poll Station: 08:00
  • Normal Closing Time Poll Station: 18:00
  • Listof Polling Station Buildings: schools, public buildings
  • Accessibility Requirement: Party to UNCRPD
  • Ballot Box Transparency: Transparent
  • Box Feeding System: Voter
  • Vote Receipt: No receipt
  • Tellersor Party Employees: over 4,100 Senegalese volunteers, most of whom were deployed throughout the country by civil society.
  • Count Locallyor Centrally: locally
  • Manualor Automatic Count: manual
  • Nature Counting Personnel: Article LO.83 of the Electoral Code states that the votes are counted in the polling stations by the poll workers of the station, representatives of the National Independent Electoral Committee (CENA), representatives of political parties and coalitions of political parties, as well as local citizens authorized to oversee.

Ballot Paper

  • Ballot Type: Paper
  • Singleor Multi Paper Ballot: Multiple
  • Ballot Paper Type Description: Mutiple Ballot Papers for each Candidate with Candidate Name, Photo, Emblem.
  • Ballot Photos: Freely Allowed
  • Orderof Candidatesor Parties: Non Applicable

Remote Voting

  • Temporal Remote Voting: No
  • Geographical Remote Voting: No
  • Personal Remote Voting: No
  • Mobile Polling Stations: No

Special Needs

  • Provision First Time Voters: My Card, My Vote, My Future: A 2012 voting pamphlet from Senegal explains that identification cards are needed to vote as well as the importance of voting. Produced by the Programme Gouvernance et Paix au Sénégal.
  • Provision Illiterate Voters: Images and Symbols on Ballot Paper
  • Provision Blind Voters: Loi No. 2012-01 (2011). Article L80 states: Any electors suffering from a temporary or permanent disability which makes it impossible to introduce the ballot into the envelope or to place the envelope in the ballot box; shall, on request, be entitled to assistance by a voter of their choice or a member of the polling station.
  • Provision Motor Handicap Voters: Loi No. 2012-01 (2011). Article L80 states: Any electors suffering from a temporary or permanent disability which makes it impossible to introduce the ballot into the envelope or to place the envelope in the ballot box; shall, on request, be entitled to assistance by a voter of their choice or a member of the polling station.

Targeted Initiatives

  • Transparency Initiative: counting of votes is often conducted in the presence of national and international observers.

Inclusivity Provisions