Socialist Party Of Senegal
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The Socialist Party of Senegal (french: Parti Socialiste du Sénégal, PS) is a
political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
in
Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ðž ...
. It was the ruling party in
Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ðž ...
from independence in 1960 until 2000. In the 2000 presidential election, the party's candidate and previous incumbent, Abdou Diof, was defeated by the leader of the
Senegalese Democratic Party The Senegalese Democratic Party (french: Parti démocratique sénégalais) is a political party in Senegal. The party considers itself a liberal party and is a member of the Liberal International. Abdoulaye Wade, who was President of Senegal fro ...
,
Abdoulaye Wade Abdoulaye Wade (born 29 May 1926)
Encyclopedia of the Nations. Retrieved February 28, ...
.
Ousmane Tanor Dieng Ousmane Tanor Dieng (January 2, 1947 – July 15, 2019) was the First Secretary of the Socialist Party of Senegal. He was vice-president of the Socialist International from 1996 until his death. Personal life Born in 1947 in Nguéniène, Seneg ...
has been the First Secretary of the party (also known as the Socialist Party of Senegal party leader) since 1996 and was the presidential candidate in 2007 and 2012. The best-known figure of the Socialist Party was
Léopold Sédar Senghor Léopold Sédar Senghor (; ; 9 October 1906 – 20 December 2001) was a Senegalese poet, politician and cultural theorist who was the first president of Senegal (1960–80). Ideologically an African socialist, he was the major theoretician o ...
, the first President of Senegal. The Socialist Party of Senegal's goal is to work on the implementation of "democratic socialism" into Senegal's political atmosphere. The implementation of "democratic socialism" includes the establishment of an open, democratic, humanitarian society, while preserving African identity. Since 1976, the Socialist Party of Senegal is the official socialist party choice for the country. There are currently about 1.2 million members in the Socialist Party of Senegal. The Socialist Party is a full member of the
Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism. It consists mostly of socialist and labour-oriented political parties and organisations. ...
.


Political history

The Socialist Party of Senegal was first created in 1958 right before Senegal gained independence. The Party was founded by
Leopold Sedar Senghor Leopold may refer to: People * Leopold (given name) * Leopold (surname) Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * Leopold (''The Simpsons''), Superintendent Chalmers' assistant on ''The Simpsons'' * Leopold Bloom, the protagonist o ...
and it was in power under him politically from 1960 to 1980. The Socialist Party of Senegal was initially known as the Senegalese Progressive Union (''Union Progressiste Senegalaise'', UPS). Senghor had founded the
Senegalese Democratic Bloc Senegalese Democratic Bloc (in French: ''Bloc Démocratique Sénégalais'') was a political party in Senegal, founded on 27 October 1948 by Léopold Sédar Senghor, following a split from the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO). ...
in 1948 and in 1958 it merged with another political party to become the UPS. The UPS became the ruling party of Senegal in 1960 once independence was gained. The UPS officially was known as the Socialist Party of Senegal starting in 1976. When Senegal gained independence in 1960, Senghor was unanimously elected president to Senegal's new republic system. He was elected president on September 5, 1960. He had served in the French Constituent Assembly since 1945, therefore he already had political experience when elected president. In the early 1960s, there was a personal and political rivalry between President Senghor and Prime Minister Mamadoua Dia. In 1962, there was a coup attempt. Dia accepted blame and was sent to prison as a result. A new constitution took effect in 1963 and Senegal's
parliamentary system A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...
became a centralized
presidential system A presidential system, or single executive system, is a form of government in which a head of government, typically with the title of president, leads an executive branch that is separate from the legislative branch in systems that use separati ...
. In 1963 Senghor ran unopposed for president and consequently won. By 1966, Senegal was considered a
one-party state A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system, or single-party system is a type of sovereign state in which only one political party has the right to form the government, usually based on the existing constitution. All other parties ...
. This occurred because Senghor was running unopposed as president and the economic stability of Senegal began to fade. Senegal relied heavily on peanut-farming and this source of economic stability was in decline. Single-party rule prevented an overwhelming economic crisis and ensured social stability in Senegal, which was appealing to people in the country. However, in the 1990s, Senegal's status as a democracy was called into question because it seemed impossible to remove the Socialist Party of Senegal from office. There was no legal political opposition to the Socialist Party of Senegal until 1974, which is when
Abdoulaye Wade Abdoulaye Wade (born 29 May 1926)
Encyclopedia of the Nations. Retrieved February 28, ...
obtained legal permission from Senghor to create a new party. He created the
Senegalese Democratic Party The Senegalese Democratic Party (french: Parti démocratique sénégalais) is a political party in Senegal. The party considers itself a liberal party and is a member of the Liberal International. Abdoulaye Wade, who was President of Senegal fro ...
. Starting in 1978, Wade's party began to start winning seats in the National Assembly. This was the beginning of Senegal moving from an essentially single-party system into a more competitive system. Leopold Sedar Senghor voluntarily resigned from position of president in 1980 and Abdou Diouf came into power as Senghor's hand-picked successor. Senghor became the first African head of state to voluntarily retire. In the 2000 presidential election, the Socialist Party of Senegal was defeated and was no longer the ruling party for the first time in 40 years. Abdou Diouf, the 19-year incumbent of the Socialist Party, was defeated by Abdoulaye Wade. The removal of Diouf from office by an election broke the political monopoly the Socialist Party had on Senegal and helped establish Senegal as one of the African countries with the most advanced democracies. Senegal became one of the first African countries to remove the head of government by voting instead of a coup or violent measures. Wade was the candidate from the Senegalese Democratic Party and had been the leader of the political opposition against the Socialist Party for about 25 years. In the 2007 and 2012 presidential elections, Ousmane Tanor Dieng unsuccessfully ran. In 2007, the Socialist Party participated in a boycott of the June 2007 parliamentary elections and has not held seats in the National Assembly since.Since 2012 the party has run in the parliamentary elections as part of the
United in Hope United in Hope ( wo, Benno Bokk Yaakaar, BBY; french: Unis par l'espoir) is a political coalition in Senegal led by President Macky Sall's Alliance for the Republic party. The coalition managed to obtain a majority in the National Assembly both in ...
coalition, the coalition of the presidential majority in support of
Macky Sall Macky Sall (, wo, Maki Sàll, fuc, 𞤃𞤢𞤳𞤭 𞤅𞤢𞤤‎, italic=no, Maki Sal; born 11 December 1961) is a Senegalese politician who has been President of Senegal since April 2012. He was re-elected President in the first round voti ...
.


Electoral history


Presidential elections

Senegal is a republic with a presidency. The president is elected every 7 years (previously every 5 years until 2001 and between 2007 and 2012) by the adult Senegalese population. The March 2000 presidential election ended 40 years of dominance by the Socialist Party of Senegal. In the 2000 presidential election, the party's candidate, incumbent president Abdou Diouf, was defeated by the leader of the
Senegalese Democratic Party The Senegalese Democratic Party (french: Parti démocratique sénégalais) is a political party in Senegal. The party considers itself a liberal party and is a member of the Liberal International. Abdoulaye Wade, who was President of Senegal fro ...
,
Abdoulaye Wade Abdoulaye Wade (born 29 May 1926)
Encyclopedia of the Nations. Retrieved February 28, ...
, in a second round of voting. Diouf received the most votes, 41.3%, in the first round, but in the second round he received only 41.51% against Wade.
Ousmane Tanor Dieng Ousmane Tanor Dieng (January 2, 1947 – July 15, 2019) was the First Secretary of the Socialist Party of Senegal. He was vice-president of the Socialist International from 1996 until his death. Personal life Born in 1947 in Nguéniène, Seneg ...
was the party's candidate in the February 2007 presidential election; he took third place with 13.56% of the vote. He was also the candidate in the 2012 presidential election and lost again. In the 2019 Senegalese presidential election a candidate did not run.


National Assembly elections

The parliament in Senegal is unicameral and is currently made up of the
National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...
, which has 165 seats (the number of seats have gradually increased over past elections). There has been periods (1999 to 2001 and 2007 to 2012) where Senegal has also had a Senate, but it was abolished by a constitutional referendum in 2001 and then abolished a second time in 2012. Elections are held every 5 years. The Socialist Party of Senegal has held seats in the National Assembly since it was created until 2007. The Socialist Party of Senegal also previously held Senegalese seats in the French National Assembly starting in 1951 and held 43 out of 50 seats in Senegal's Territorial Assembly starting in 1952. Since independence, in the 1963, 1968, and 1973 elections the Socialist Party had full control of the National Assembly. In 1973 they lost 18 out of 100 seats to the Senegalese Democratic Party. In the years after they increasingly lost more seats in the National Assembly. The Socialist Party of Senegal finally lost majority in the National Assembly in April 2001 when the Senegalese Democratic Party won 89 of the 120 seats. In the 2001 election, the party only won 17.4% of the popular vote and 10 out of 120 seats. In June 2007, the Socialist Party of Senegal boycotted the parliamentary elections. They have not held seats in the National Assembly since then, holding zero seats in 2007, 2012, and 2017. Since 2012 the party has run in the parliamentary elections as part of the
United in Hope United in Hope ( wo, Benno Bokk Yaakaar, BBY; french: Unis par l'espoir) is a political coalition in Senegal led by President Macky Sall's Alliance for the Republic party. The coalition managed to obtain a majority in the National Assembly both in ...
coalition, the coalition of the presidential majority in support of
Macky Sall Macky Sall (, wo, Maki Sàll, fuc, 𞤃𞤢𞤳𞤭 𞤅𞤢𞤤‎, italic=no, Maki Sal; born 11 December 1961) is a Senegalese politician who has been President of Senegal since April 2012. He was re-elected President in the first round voti ...
.


See also

* Combat pour le socialisme


References


External links

* {{Authority control African and Black nationalist parties in Africa African socialist political parties Parties of one-party systems Political parties in Senegal Progressive Alliance Social democratic parties in Africa Socialist International Socialist parties in Senegal