Abstract
This chapter analyzes the sources of party formation and proliferation in Senegal. First, the author argues that electoral rules, social cleavages, and ideology do not account for party proliferation by themselves; President Wade also used the uneven playing field to encourage party formation but made survival in the opposition difficult enough that most party leaders minimized their involvement in elections and negotiated forms of patronage that did not require vote-seeking. Subsequently, the author presents an in-depth account of the logics of party creation among a chronological subset of politicians who contributed to the initial acceleration in party formation. While the logics of party creation are multiple, and various opposition parties in Senegal are created to contest elections, many other party leaders run organizations that function primarily to obtain patronage that does not depend on regularized vote-seeking. This research is based on archival research on all registered parties; semi-structured interviews conducted with the 46 people who created parties during 1998–2003, the six years surrounding Senegal’s first presidential turnover in 2000; vignettes of pre- and post-alternance party formation; and analysis of the types and frequencies of new parties’ electoral activity and performance, as well as their leaders’ declared motivations.
The statements and analysis expressed are solely those of the author and have not been approved by the House of Delegates or the Board of Governors of the American Bar Association and do not represent the position or policy of the American Bar Association.
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Notes
- 1.
Each presidential candidacy must be supported by 0.8–1% of electors. At least 2000 must come from each of seven of the country’s 14 regions, and individual electors may only provide their signature for one candidate.
- 2.
The analysis of party types among the 46 created between 1998 and 2003 is restricted to their activities throughout the Wade era—and not extended to the Sall era—because there is no pre-existing data available covering the coalition choices of all sampled parties. Election results report the results for parties that run on their own labels in an election as well as the names of coalitions in the running, but do not report on coalition composition. To track party behavior, the author spent a year constructing a dataset by personally interviewing party leaders in the sample in 2012.
- 3.
Interview with Bacar Dia, 7/20/12, Saint-Louis.
- 4.
Interview with Souleymane Ndiaye, 1/23/12, Thiès.
- 5.
There is some missing data because a couple of party founders were not findable and because the interviewees did not always provide all of the relevant information. The percentages reported in text reflect conservative estimates of each trend, based on a denominator of 46, the total number of party leaders intended to be included in the sample. The denominator of 46 is used as opposed to the actual number of founders (sometimes less than the full 46) that were codable on the variable in question. The footnotes that follow provide percentages that correspond to the conservative estimate, along with raw numbers to reflect the actual number of people coded.
- 6.
This data should be considered an impressionistic snapshot at best. An estimate of caste was determined based on their knowledge of common caste-based distinctions historically reflected in family names. (As people of different castes intermarry, the “shortcut” becomes less accurate, which is the data’s main potential source of error).
- 7.
Both constitute 24% of the sample according to the conservative estimate with a denominator of 46 (11 of 43 founders with data on this variable).
- 8.
Seventy-seven percent of the sample according to the conservative estimate, or 33 of 43 founders codable on this dimension.
- 9.
Fourteen of the 33 codable individuals with prior experience had been national-level PS staff; 14 had been national-level staff in another party.
- 10.
Interview with Ndiaga Sylla, 3/21/12, Dakar.
- 11.
Interview with Aliou Seck, 7/3/12, Diourbel; Interview with Amadou Moctar Ndiaye, 7/20/12, Louga; Interview with Samba Diouldé Thiam, 11/22/11, Dakar; Interview with Djibril Mbaye, 2/28/12, Dakar; Interview with Moustapha Fall “Ché,” 4/10/12, Kaolack.
- 12.
Interview with Imam Mbaye Niang, 1/9/12, Dakar.
- 13.
Interview with Pape Mody Sow and Attye Farès, 6/11/15, Diamaguène.
- 14.
Interview with Aliou Seck, op. cit.
- 15.
Not all leaders could readily provide precise statistics on the location and number of posts controlled. For the author, as well, the exact numbers of municipal-level elected offices controlled by each party were difficult to obtain. It is often not possible to infer from election results where a particular party ran for office or won candidates because election results are reported on the coalition level (rather than by the names of parties composing the coalition) and coalition names and coalition composition vary across communes d’arrondissements, communes, and communautés rurales. The author gathered information about the party affiliation of mayors and presidents of rural communities (présidents des communuautés rurales, PCRs) by asking several political party administrators to identify the affiliations of the mayors and PCRs elected in 1996, 2002, and 2009. Lists of mayors and PCRs were available through archival research at the PS and the National Association of Senegalese mayors.
- 16.
Interview with Blaise Ndiaye, 3/15/12, Dakar.
- 17.
Interview with Mamadou Bamba Ndiaye, 10/18/11, Dakar.
- 18.
Interview with Mamour Cissé, 5/2/12, Dakar.
- 19.
Interview with Mbaye Diouf, 3/3/12, Dakar; Interview with Mamour Cissé, op. cit.
- 20.
Interview with Tamsir Jupiter Ndiaye, 1/18/12, Dakar.
- 21.
Interview with Mousseyesse Niang, 2/17/12, Dakar.
- 22.
Interview with Abdoulaye Diallo, 3/21/12, Dakar.
- 23.
Interview with El Hadji Momar Sambe, 11/8/11.
- 24.
Interview with Ibrahima Diongue, op. cit.
- 25.
Interview with Tamsir Jupiter Ndiaye, op cit., Interview with Amadou Mayoro Fall, 4/22/12, Thiès.
- 26.
Interview with El Hadji Momar Sambe, op. cit.
- 27.
Interview with Georges Nesta Diop, 3/22/12, Khar Yallah.
- 28.
Interview with Mame Comba Diop, 3/5/12, Dakar. Interview with El Hadji Hamidou Diallo, 7/10/10, Dakar.
- 29.
Interview with Daouda Diedhiou, 2/5/12, Dakar.
- 30.
Interview with Marième Wone Ly, 2/17/12, Dakar; Interview with Aloïse Gorgui Dione, 6/5/12, Dakar.
- 31.
Interview with Bacar Dia, 7/1/12, Saint-Louis.
- 32.
Interview with Samba Diouldé Thiam, 11/22/11, Dakar.
- 33.
Interview with Ousmane Guèye, 2/28/12, Parcelles Assainies.
- 34.
Interview with Mbaye Niang, 1/9/12, Dakar.
- 35.
Interview with Mame Mactar Gueye, 8/17/10, Dakar.
- 36.
Interview with Oumar Khassimou Dia, 3/7/12, Parcelles Assainies.
- 37.
Interview with Huchard, op. cit.
- 38.
Interview with Marième Wane Ly, 2/17/12, Dakar.
- 39.
Interview with Amadou Moctar Ndiaye, 7/20/12, Louga.
- 40.
Interview with Moustapha Niasse, 7/21/15, Dakar.
- 41.
Interview with Abdourahim Agne, May 2012, Dakar.
- 42.
Interview with Bacar Dia, op. cit.
- 43.
Interview with Omar Thiam, 3/5/12, Dakar.
- 44.
Interview with Marième Wane Ly, op. cit.
- 45.
Interview with Adama Kamara, 1/19/12, Pikine.
- 46.
Interview with Samir Abdourizk, 7/25/12, Dakar, Interview with Abiboulaye Ndiaye, 2/29/12, Dakar.
- 47.
Interview with Iba Der Thiam, 8/7/10, Dakar.
- 48.
These dynamics, termed “exit as voice,” are discussed in Chap. 6.
- 49.
Interview with Omar Sarr, 7/21/10, Dakar.
- 50.
The trend is an increase in electoral transparency over time. However, the curtailment of civil liberties and the uneven playing field were major features of regimes under both Diouf and Wade. Thus, both Diouf’s and Wade’s regimes can be defined as competitive authoritarian, but under Wade it did not feature clear-cut electoral malpractice as much as Diouf’s. Even under Diouf, the administration’s constraints increased. Compared to 1988, when there were protests about electoral fraud, by the start of party proliferation in 1998, the administration had less freedom to flout electoral transparency.
- 51.
Interview with Souleymane Ndéné Ndiaye, 6/27/15, Dakar.
- 52.
These patterns were not were not possible to substantiate through fieldwork and were not present in allafrica.com coverage of Le Soleil, Sud Quotidien, and Walfadjri. Anonymous sources reported to Walfadjri that select parties in the presidential camp had received 10–15 million CFA francs at one point, and that at another time, each member of the camp had received 1 million CFA francs. However, certain other members denied receiving financial support. See Georges Nesta Diop, “Macky offre un million à chaque parti allié,” Walfadjri, September 30, 2014.
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Kelly, C.L. (2020). Party Formation and Proliferation on Senegal’s Uneven Playing Field. In: Party Proliferation and Political Contestation in Africa. Contemporary African Political Economy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19617-2_3
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