Handbook Forum: Diplomatic Observation of Presidential Elections in Sénegal

In February 1988, Sénegal held nationwide elections for President and the National Assembly.  Abdou Diouf had risen to the Presidency office from his position as Prime Minister when then-President Leopold Sédar Senghor resigned in 1981.  While perfectly legal under the Senegalese Constitution, this transfer of power was criticized as un-democratic; the criticisms diminished only slightly when Diouf won the Presidential elections in 1981 at the head of the Socialist Party ticket.  As the 1988 elections approached, it was apparent that numerous parties would contest for seats in the Assembly, and several significant political leaders had their eye on the Presidency.  All expected a very hotly-contested campaign, with significant potential for allegations of fraud.  To make the most of scarce resources, several (mainly Western) Embassies in Dakar agreed to pool their efforts to follow political developments and the elections themselves.  Embassy officers who attended rallies or other campaign events shared their impressions with counterparts, and a coordinated election-day schedule was drawn up to avoid overlapping visits to polling stations in the capital and the country’s other key towns.  The candidates and party campaign leaders knew of and appreciated this careful, coordinated attention to their campaign efforts.

While there were no standardized “checklists” of the kind familiar to modern-day election observers, the electoral law spelled out clearly what was required (equal access to the state-run media, positive identification of voters, secrecy of the ballot, accuracy in counting) and what was prohibited (campaigning or partisan displays at polling stations, bias by poling station officials, etc.).  Any variance from these norms was noted by the diplomats, and an evaluation made of its seriousness.  Following Election Day, the embassy representatives met in Dakar to share impressions on what they had seen.  They reached a common conclusion that while there had been some irregularities (e.g., women coming to vote while wearing Diouf/PS t-shirts: wrong but probably not important), they were not deep or broad enough to distort the final results in any meaningful way.  The diplomats agreed that the results reflected the will of the people: the majority of Sénegalese voters wanted Abdou Diouf to remain in office.  This joint position proved useful in maintaining a common diplomatic position in response to civil disturbances which broke out in poorer sections of Dakar as dissatisfied voters felt their preferred candidate should have been chosen.   

-SW