As votes continue to be counted after the legislative elections on Sunday 31 July, the opposition and the presidential camp have stepped forward to claim victory. The first trends reported by the media show a close election and a good breakthrough for the Yewwi/Wallu inter-coalition.
The Senegalese went to the polls on Sunday 31 July 2022 to elect their deputies to the National Assembly. All the provisional trends in the 46 departments of the country were still expected, and already the opposition and the presidential camp were fighting for victory.
Difference of opinion between the ruling and opposition parties.
In the evening of this Sunday, the head of the list of the presidential coalition Aminata Toure, claims to have won in 30 departments out of 46, despite the crushing defeat recorded in the Senegalese capital Dakar. “This definitely gives us a majority in the national assembly,” she says. However, the opposition does not share this view. In a statement on Monday 1On 1st August, the main coalition declared itself the winner of this election and said it had obtained a comfortable majority in the hemicycle. “We followed with amazement the release of Mrs. Mimi Touré who presents herself as a spokesperson for President Macky Sall who is once again seeking to confiscate the votes of Senegalese who have just given a comfortable majority in the National Assembly to the Yewwi/Wallu inter-coalition.
The uncertainty of votes.
The opposition camp, like the presidential camp, did not give any details on the number of deputies obtained, nor whether it was a relative or absolute majority. Opposition leaders speak instead of “heavy trends drawn from the minutes” available to them. “We warn national and international opinion against any attempt to manipulate the results and we also call on all Senegalese to stand up for securing the people’s victory,” the opposition said. It should be noted that “yewwi askan wi”, the real opposition coalition grouped around Ousmane Sonko who was third in the 2019 legislative elections, has made an alliance with the coalition “wallu Sénégal” which means “save Senegal” headed by Abdoulaye Wade.
The voting on Sunday 31 July took place in better conditions without major damage. It is done under the benevolent eye of observers sent by the Cena, ECOWAS and the Francophonie. But the wish of the opposition is to remove President Macky Sall, who is likely to run for a third term in 2024 if he manages to maintain the seats in parliament. It should be noted that The provisional overall results will be given by the National Commission for the Enumeration of Votes (CNRV) on Friday at the latest.
Thierry Hounye (Stag)
