In Senegal, context for postponed election is strong popular support for democracy, growing dissatisfaction with its workings

President Macky Sall’s move to postpone Senegal’s presidential election comes within the context of solid popular support for democracy but increasing dissatisfaction with the way the country’s democracy is working, Afrobarometer surveys show.

Sall announced Saturday that he has postponed the 25 February election indefinitely.

Afrobarometer survey findings show that most Senegalese endorse elections as the best way to choose their leaders. They also favour limiting their presidents to two terms, a limitation that Sall has promised to respect. Across 39 countries surveyed in 2021/2023, Senegal records the third-largest proportion of citizens who prefer democracy to any other political system.

But fewer than half of Senegalese say they are satisfied with the way democracy works in the country, a significant decline compared to 2014, and a majority think the country is less democratic than it was five years ago.

While most citizens say their president must always obey the country’s laws and courts, a growing share say their president ignores them.

Key findings

• More than eight in 10 Senegalese say they prefer democracy over any other politicalsystem (84%) and endorse fair, open, and honest elections as the best way to choose their leaders (82%) (Figure 1).

o A similar majority (79%) want the president to be limited to a maximum of two terms in office.

• Across 39 African countries surveyed in 2021/2023, Senegal registers the third-strongestsupport for democracy (84%), well above the continental average of 66% (Figure 2).
• However, the proportion of Senegalese who say they are “fairly satisfied” or “verysatisfied” with the way democracy works in the country has declined sharply, from 64% in 2014 to 48% (Figure 3).
• Morethan half (53%) of citizens say the country is less democratic now than it was five years ago (Figure 4).
• Three-fourths(76%) of Senegalese say their president must always obey the country’s laws and courts, even if he thinks they are  But a majority (57%) say that in fact the president “often” or “always” ignores the laws and courts – more than quadruple the proportion who thought so in 2013 (13%) (Figure 5).

Afrobarometer surveys

Afrobarometer is a pan-African, non-partisan survey research network that provides reliable data on African experiences and evaluations of democracy, governance, and quality of life.

Nine survey rounds in up to 42 countries have been completed since 1999. Round 9 surveys (2021/2023) cover 39 countries.

The Afrobarometer team in Senegal, led by Consortium pour la Recherche Economique et Sociale (CRES), interviewed a nationally representative sample of 1,200 adult Senegalese in May and June 2022. A sample of this size yields country-level results with a margin of error of

+/-3 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. Previous surveys were conducted in Senegal in 2002, 2005, 2008, 2013, 2014, 2017, and 2021.