Senegal electoral reform: Khalidou dit Mbaye Sokoma’s full proportional representation push

Khalidou dit Mbaye Sokoma, president of the Mouvement Patriotique pour un Développement Durable (MPPD) / AND DEFAR SUNU REEW, has issued a direct call for a comprehensive overhaul of Senegal’s voting system. His proposal centers on full proportional representation for both legislative and local elections, aiming to bind elected officials more tightly to the territories they serve.

The current hybrid model and its shortcomings

Senegal’s National Assembly comprises 165 seats: 112 filled by a single-round majority list vote and 53 by national proportional representation. Municipal elections use a mixed system with 45% majority seats and 55% proportional seats. Sokoma argues this arrangement falls short of mirroring the actual votes cast by citizens.

Full proportional representation with local roots

The cornerstone of the proposal is a fully proportional system for all elections, designed to preserve a genuine territorial anchor. Candidacies would extend beyond party machines to include citizen movements, independents, and—under strict conditions—civil society and qualified state services. Nominations would be rooted in neighbourhoods and villages, rewarding local presence and popular trust.

Redefining the deputy’s role: from party to territory

Sokoma stresses that voters must be able to identify their representatives clearly and hold them accountable. Political parties would retain a supporting role but lose their monopoly on representation. The “party deputy” would give way to the “deputy chosen by citizens and carried by a territory.”

Stabilizing the local vote

For municipal and departmental elections, stronger proportionality would better reflect the political diversity within a commune. To ensure stable local executives, Sokoma suggests a second round when no list wins an absolute majority (50%), pending a prior study of legal and financial impacts.

A territorially grounded electoral administration

Local election organization could rely more on prefects and sub-prefects within their jurisdictions, under national oversight and with strict respect for impartiality and equality. This territorialization would foster dialogue with grassroots collectivities.

The specific case of Kaolack: toward decentralized governance

Kaolack, spanning nearly 6,959 hectares (69.6 km²), organized into 45 neighbourhoods, and home to 1,336,720 inhabitants according to the 2023 RGPH-5, requires a tailored approach. Given its urban growth and economic role, Sokoma advocates studying the creation of three or four arrondissement communes or proximity municipal entities, based on rigorous criteria: demography, infrastructure, living basins, fiscal resources, and administrative capacity.

Ultimately, the quality of a democracy is measured by how clearly citizens see their vote translated into seats and can identify their spokespeople. Khalidou dit Mbaye Sokoma calls for a broad, pluralistic, and well-documented national debate to give Senegal a system where every citizen, neighbourhood, and village truly counts in choosing the nation’s representatives.

By Claire Mvondo — Security and State Policy Expert