WANEP makes its observations on the vote, voter mobilization, and reported incidents

The West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) monitoring unit published a press release on November 17, 2024 presenting a specific analysis of the voting day of the legislative elections in Senegal. The progress of this polling day is studied on several levels including: the mobilization of voters, the presence of law enforcement and defense forces, with respect for voting procedures and reported incidents.

WANEP deployed 100 observers on the ground in 42 of the 46 departments of Senegal assessed as potentially areas at risk of electoral violence. And therefore, 99.7% of the polling stations could be observed.

According to WANEP, the vote took place normally “with discipline and without major incidents”. On the other hand, we notice a particularly low participation rate at midday. Indeed, in front of 95.7% of the stations observed, short lines of voters with less than 20 people were observed, while at other stations a long queue extending beyond 20. Otherwise, 83.5% of its offices had a low presence of young people, the same trend that we note for the participation of women.

Aiming at the presence of law enforcement and defense forces, 2 or 9 agents were observed with a low representation of women in 98.8% of the voting centers observed.

Concerning the incidents reported, we only observed minor slippages including the violation of the voting procedure for people with disabilities. WANEP also takes as an example a mishap that happened at the Thiowor voting center in Louga, where a visually impaired person was helped by a party representative; which was contested by the other representatives thus leading to verbal violence.

“Overall, the elections took place without major clashes with a relatively low turnout at midday,” we read in the WANEP press release.