REPUBLIC OF SENEGAL

• Official name: Republique du Senegal (Republic of Senegal)
• Location: West Africa
• International organisations: African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, African Union, Non-Aligned Movement, Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, Organisation of Islamic Conference, United Nations, World Trade Organisation
• Borders: Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania
• Coastline: North Atlantic Ocean
• Land area: 196,190 Km2
• Population: 13,700,000
• Annual GDP (PPP) per capita: US$1,600 (2009 CIA estimate). World ranking: 164
• Ethnicity: Almost the entire population of Senegal is of West African stock. The largest ethnic groups are the Wolof (43.3%), Pular (23.8%), Serer (14.7%), Jola (3.7%), Mandinka (3%) and Soninke (1.1%).
• Languages: French is the official language and is the language of government and business. Many African languages are spoken, Wolof being the most widely used.
• Religion: Sunni Moslem 94%, Catholic Christian 5%.
• Form of government: Presidential democratic republic. Senegal is divided into ten regions.
• Capital: Dakar
• Constitution: The new Constitution of the Republic of Senegal came into effect on 7 January 2001.
• Head of state: The President, elected by direct universal suffrage for a five-year term (previously seven).
• Head of government: The Prime Minister, appointed by the President. The Prime Minister is the leader of the largest party in the legislature and is in theory accountable to it. In the current circumstances he is accountable mainly to the President and has little real authority. Souleymane Ndene Ndiaye was appointed Prime Minister in April 2009.
• Legislature: Senegal has a bicameral legislature. The National Assembly (Assemblee Nationale) has 150 members, elected for five-year terms from multi-member constituencies. The Senate consists of 65 members appointed by the President and 35 members elected by public officials.
• Electoral authority: The National Election Observatory (ONE) administers national elections. It appears to have no website.
• Freedom House 2009 rating: Political Rights 3, Civil Liberties 3

Political history

Senegal was France's first colony is sub-Saharan Africa, with settlement beginning in 1626. As such it had unusual privileges, including the right to elect a member of the French legislature from 1848 and a local Assembly from 1879. Senegal became part of French West Africa in 1895 and in 1902 it was extended inland to its present borders. It became self-governing in 1958 and fully independent in 1960.

Senegal's first president was Leopold Sedar Senghor, a distinguished poet and a member and minister in the French National Assembly. In 1962 Senghor established a socialist one-party state and retained power without opposition until his retirement in 1980. From 1982 to 1989 Senegal was involved in an unsuccessful federation with Gambia.

Senghor's successor, Abdou Diouf, abandoned socialism and allowed a return to democratic government, the genuineness of which was proved when he was defeated for re-election in 2000 by Abdoulaye Wade (pronounced Wah-day). Wade was comfortably re-elected in 2007 against a fragmented opposition. His party, the Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS), is the dominant party in the legislature, as part of the Sopi Coalition ("Sopi" is a Wolof word for change), since Diouf's party, the Socialist Party of Senegal, and other opposition parties, boycotted the 2007 legislative elections.

Wade is now 83 and constitutionally barred from seeking a third term in 2012, but says he intends running anyway. More realistically, he is grooming his son Karim to succeed him. In a familiar pattern in Africa, his rule has become more authoritarian and corrupt the longer he has been in power.

Freedom House's 2009 report on Senegal says: "Senegal is an electoral democracy. The National Observatory of Elections has performed credibly in overseeing legislative and presidential polls since its creation in 1997... Wade secured a second term as president in the February 2007 election, which drew an impressive 70.5 percent turnout... The opposition accused the government of vote rigging... As a result, the [Socialist Party] and 11 other parties... boycotted the June 2007 National Assembly elections... In July [2008], the PDS-dominated National Assembly approved the government's proposal to amend the constitution to extend the presidential term to seven years. While the amendment did not apply to Wade's current term, it opened the possibility that he could run for re-election in 2012, at the age of 85... Although the government has initiated reforms to strengthen the rule of law and improve transparency, corruption remains a problem... Senegal was ranked 85 out of 180 countries surveyed in Transparency International's 2008 Corruption Perceptions Index... Freedom of expression is generally respected, and members of the independent media are often highly critical of the government... While freedoms of association and assembly are [constitutionally] guaranteed, they were limited in practice in 2008... The judiciary is independent by law, but poor pay and lack of tenure expose judges to external influences."

Updated February 2010