S&P Bulletin: Senegal’s Parliamentary Election Results Could Slow Reform Momentum

DAKAR (Capital Markets in Africa) – S&P Global Ratings anticipates that the Senegalese president, Macky Sall, may find it more difficult to implement his reform agenda following the parliamentary elections on Aug. 7, 2022. Preliminary results indicate that, for the first time since Senegal gained its independence in 1960, the incumbent president’s coalition has lost its parliamentary majority.

Of the 165 seats in the Senegalese parliament, the president’s coalition Beno Bokk Yakaar (United in Hope), won 82. This is one seat short of an absolute majority and well below the 125 seats it won in the 2017 election. Abstentions were high, at over 53%.

The opposition coalition–Yewwi Askan Wi and Wallu Sénégal–won 80 seats. The three remaining seats were won by Thierno Alassane Sall, a former Minister of Energy; Pape Diop, the former Mayor of Dakar; and Pape Djibril, a newcomer to politics. The new assembly is expected to be formed in September.

S&P Global Ratings still expects GDP growth to be strong in the coming years, as Senegal starts to ramp up hydrocarbon production. However, expansion in the non-hydrocarbon economy is linked to implementation of the president’s reforms, which might prove more cumbersome given the assembly’s new structure. The ruling coalition will have to rely on support from other parties to implement its reform agenda.

Source: S&P Ratings