| More
See also special areas

At a glance

Structure of Parliament: Unicameral

Are there legislated quotas...

  • Yes for the Single/Lower House?
  • Yes at the Sub-national level?

Are there voluntary quotas...

  • No adopted by political parties?

Is there additional information?

Yes

Senegal

(Republic of Senegal)

Single/Lower house

Assemblée nationale / National Assembly

Total seats:150
Total women:64
% women: 43%
Election year:2012
Electoral system:Parallel
Quota type: Legislated Candidate Quotas
Election details: IDEA Voter Turnout
IPU Parline
Legal sourceDetails
Quota type:
Legislated Candidate Quotas		 Electoral law The electoral Law n.92-16 of 1992, as amended by the law no 2012-01 of 2012, article L.145, mandates parity in all candidate lists for the general elections. Candidate lists must be composed alternating male and female candidates. As Senegal has a parallel electoral system the provisions of parity apply to both the list of candidates submitted for seats elected through a proportional representation contest (PR) and the seats contested through a plurality/majority contest in multi-member constituencies. For example, in a multi-member constituency with 5 seats, a party must have at least 2 women in its list of 5 candidates.
Legal sanctions for non-compliance: Electoral law According to the article L.174, the candidate lists which do not comply with the provisions of the article L.145 (parity and gender alternation) will not be admissible.
Rank order/placement rules: Electoral law The amended electoral law (2012) provides alternation for female and male candidates on the electoral lists submitted by the political parties.

Sources | Additional information | Contact us

Last updated 2013-05-22

Quota at the Sub-National Level

Quota type:Legislated Candidate Quotas
Legal sourceDetails
Quota type:
Legislated Candidate Quotas
 Electoral law The electoral Law n.92-16 of 1992, as amended by the law no 2012-01 of 2012, article R.81, mandates parity to all the candidate lists for the regional, municipal and rural elections with the provision that the candidate lists must be composed alternating between candidates of both sexes.
Legal sanctions for non-compliance: Electoral law According to the article R.81, the candidate lists which not comply with the provisions of the same article will not be admissible.
Rank order/placement rules: Electoral law The amended electoral law (2012) provides alternation for female and male candidates on the electoral lists submitted by the political parties.

Sources | Additional information | Contact us

Last updated 2013-05-22

Additional information

According to the article 107, of the Constitution of Senegal 2012, the Senate and any institution related with it are abolished.

Old Data: in the Upper House, 35 of the senators, among whom 4 were women, were indirectly elected, while 65 (36 women) were appointed by the president. After the formation of government, some seats in the Lower House were left vacant and filled with female MPs, bringing the total number of women to 33, or 22 percent. 


Recent amendments to the election legislation pertaining to the gender parity: In June 2010, Senegal adopted important amendments to the election law, introducing the requirement for gender parity in candidate lists for legislative, regional, municipal and rural elections for proportional and majority contests. Candidate lists, as well as alternative lists are thus required to include equal number of male and female candidates for national, municipal and local elections. Amendments also introduced the provision for a mandatory disqualification of those lists that do not comply with the parity principle. Electoral contestants will be given three days to revise their lists to comply with the requirement of gender parity.

Old data: Members of various Senegalese political parties, women's organisations and a NGO-network have pushed for a gender quota for electoral lists. In 2007, a law on gender parity on candidate lists for the June 3 legislative elections were passed in parliament, but ruled as being unconstitutional by the Constitutional Council. 

Senegal Socialist Party (SSP) used to have quotas (30 percent for women and 20 percent for young people), while Senegalese Liberal Party (PLS) had a quota rule of 33 percent for women. SSP boycotted the last elections and is no longer represented in parliament, while PLS merged with Senegalese Democratic Party in 2003 and is now a part of the ruling Sopi coalition, which has not adopted quotas.

Last updated 2013-02-27

Sources

http://www.gouv.sn/Arret-du-Conseil-constitutionnel.html   http://www.gouv.sn/Arret-du-Conseil-constitutionnel.html 



Constitution of the Republic of Senegal, amended in 2008;
Electoral Law, amended in June 2010
The Global Legal Monitor, Issue 6 2007 (by Library of Congress)

Additional reading

Senegal | Africa | Global

Know about useful additional reading for Senegal? Tell us!