On July 31, 2022, Senegal held legislative elections. According to an article by Cristina Krippahl article published by DW, the fact that the presidential majority and the opposition alliance both declare victory does not augur well for the West African country’s democracy. Here is an excerpt:

Though official preliminary results are expected by the end of the week, Senegal’s opposition leaders maintained that they had defeated the government coalition in Sunday’s poll.

“We won, and we will not accept that they steal our victory,” said Khalifa Sall of the Manko Taxawu Senegal alliance, one of eight formations vying for parliamentary mandates.

“It is a very close call,” Ahmed Dieme, director of the consultancy Sahel Strategie Communication SASCOM, told DW, stressing the heavy inroads the opposition has made in major urban centers. This tendency had already been evident in January’s municipal and regional elections.

Read the full article here.