The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has announced the deployment of a 120-member Election Observation Mission (EOM) to the upcoming Presidential election in Senegal, rescheduled for the 24th of March 2024. The mission will be led by Professor Ibrahim Gambari, Nigeria’s former Foreign Minister and United Nations Under-Secretary-General.
The EOM comprises 14 Long-Term Observers (LTOs), experts in fields such as constitutional and electoral laws, election operations, conflict management and prevention, political analysis, gender and inclusivity, and the media. They will be joined by 106 Short-Term colleagues from the 18th of March.
The short-term observers are drawn from various ECOWAS bodies and Civil Society organizations in the region. The EOM will be supported by an ECOWAS Technical Team led by Ambassador Abdel-Fatau Musah, Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, and Mr. Serigne Ka, acting Head of the ECOWAS Electoral Assistance Division (EAD).
The deployment of the EOM aligns with Articles 12 to 14 of the regional Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance. A pre-election fact-finding mission was also deployed to Senegal from 26th November to 3rd December 2023.
Senegal, one of the first countries in sub-Saharan Africa to hold multi-party presidential elections, has continued to hold presidential and legislative elections, sometimes marked by political tensions, but without significant threats to the stability of the country’s institutions.
The upcoming election features 19 presidential candidates, including one woman. The only female candidate is entrepreneur Anta Babacar Ngom. If none of the candidates obtains an absolute majority of votes, there will be a run-off vote between the two frontrunners.
This election is crucial for Senegal, a country with a population of over 18 million, with 7,033,854 registered voters. The country has seen a slight increase in voter registration compared to the 2019 presidential election.