Senegal's recently elected president, Macky Sall, is likely to face a parliament of his own party members and coalition partners, according to the AFP. Full results will be announced on Tuesday.
Parliamentary voting took place on Sunday and witnessed a low turnout. If the 100 of 150 seats to be replaced are actually held by his ruling coalition as the Senegalese Press Agency (APS) reported on Monday, according to AFP, then the Benno Bokk Yaakkar (United for One Hope in the Wolof language, or BBY) coalition will rule parliament and allow Sall to pass legislation.
Here are some facts regarding the elections and Senegalese politics.
BBY beats all competition in Nioro, Kaffrine, Koumpentoum: A report from ASP showed that BBY overtook the primary opposition party Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) and third place Gis Gis Bokk (BGG) in the Nioro du Rip Department with 28,626 votes cast out of 39,308. Nioro du Rip is southeast of Kaolak, 150 miles from the capital of Dakar and near the Gambian border.
The Bokk Gis Gis coalition is headed by parliament's upper house leader Pape Diop. PDS is led by ex-President Abdoulaye Wade, 86, whom Sall defeated. Sall's political party is the Alliance for the Republic party (APR).
The nearby Kaffrine region was also won by BBY, according to another report from ASP, handing four of six seats to the party and the other two to PDS.
A further ASP report indicated that the small town of Koumpentoum gave its two seats to BBY as well.
Sall seeks to fight corruption: A report from Bloomberg released on Friday said Sall was seeking legislative authority to implement an anti-graft plan.
He began his presidency three months ago with a probe into Wade's administration, according to another AFP report. During his term in office to date, Sall has closed 59 state institutions, created a special court for investigating financial crimes, audited government programs, and pleged to ban first-class travel and cut mobile phone costs for government authorities.
Rebuke of former President Wade: Wade's presidency was marred by accusations of corruption, as reported by Freedom House. In February 2010, Senegalese officials sought $200 million from a telecommunications company for permission to operate in the country.
Wade himself, Freedom House says, found himself surrounded by further controversy in August 2010 "when he asserted his right to royalties on a $27 million monument recently constructed in Dakar in celebration of Senegal's 50th anniversary of independence," according to the freedom advocacy group's web site, a monument that was seen as an abuse of public funds.
Shawn Humphrey is a former contributor to The Flint Journal and an amateur Africanist, focusing his personal studies on human rights and political issues on the continent.
