ADR Case Study: Senegal

For post-election disputes, Senegal features the use of judge-led mediation and consensus building in the verification and tabulation of results. This has enhanced the acceptance of the results by all candidates. The low number of petitions filed against the results with the Constitutional Court since the introduction of this procedure points to its success.

Senegal features the use of mediation techniques led by judges and involving election officials and candidates’ representatives during the compilation of results. The judiciary is responsible for protecting the integrity of the vote by deploying judges (délégués) on Election Day to control polling and counting operations up to the transfer from the polling station to the relevant commission (Commissions départementales de recensement des votes, or CDRV). The magistrates also control and supervise the results tabulation process at the departmental and national-level commissions (the CDRVs and the CNRV). As chairs of these commissions, the judges lead the process of establishing preliminary results prior to the certification of final results by the Constitutional Court. The CNRV includes representatives from the election commission and from all candidates, and it operates on a consensus basis.

The role of the national commission is to review the results sheets (procès-verbaux) sent from all the departmental commissions, correct potential errors in the results and review any observations or comments included on the results sheet. During an interview with IFES, the former first president of the Appeal Court explained his role in the national commission. He saw the judges’ role as mediators of counting disputes to enhance acceptance of the result by all candidates and, ultimately, to avoid petitions being filed before the Constitutional Court. He described the mediation techniques used in the case of disputes during the results process and said that if mediation failed to reach an agreement, he would take a decision and note the observation on the results sheet. The party or candidate is then free to lodge an appeal before the courts if they wish to. He noted that the low number of petitions filed against the results with the Constitutional Court since the introduction of this procedure in Senegal shows the success of the procedures. Additionally, the transparency of the process was noted by EU Election Observation Mission observers in their 2019 report, when referring to the presence of all candidates’ representatives as well as observers and CSOs.211

Aside from this Senegalese example, the use of mediation by judges at the time of tabulation of results remains rare. But the reduction in the post-election disputes filed before the courts may encourage EMBs or courts to adopt similar mediation procedures prior to the publication of preliminary results.