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 from 2000 to 2012, is the party's leader. The PDS ruled together with smaller parties as part of the Sopi Coalition. Since Wade's defeat in the 2012 presidential election, the PDS has been the main opposition party.

History

At a summit of the Organization of African Unity in Mogadishu in 1974, Wade told President Léopold Sédar Senghor that he wanted to start a new party, and Senghor agreed to this. The PDS was founded on 31 July 1974 and recognized on 8 August.^[1][2] In its first constitutive congress, held on 31 January – 1 February 1976, the PDS described itself as a party of labor, but soon afterwards a law was introduced according to which three parties were allowed in Senegal: a socialist party, a Marxist–Leninist party, and a liberal party. The first two categories were already taken, and the PDS assumed the role of a liberal party rather than be dissolved.^[2]

Abdoulaye Wade is the Secretary General of the PDS and has led the party since its foundation in 1974.^[3][4] The PDS joined the Liberal International at the latter's Berlin Congress in 1980.^[5]

The PDS participated, along with the ruling Socialist Party, in a national unity government that was formed in 1991, but withdrew from it on October 20, 1992, saying that the Socialist Party had monopolized control of the government and marginalized the PDS. Wade ran against the Socialist incumbent, Abdou Diouf, in the February 1993 presidential election, but lost to Diouf, receiving 32% of the vote against Diouf's 58%. In the subsequent May 1993 parliamentary election, the PDS won 27 out of 120 seats in the National Assembly. The PDS and the Socialist Party began discussing the formation of another government together, but this was aborted by the assassination of Constitutional Council vice-president Babacar Sèye on May 15; because the PDS had been critical of Sèye, they were suspected of responsibility for the killing. The PDS then joined the Bokk Sopi Senegaal opposition coalition, in which it remained until rejoining the government in March 1995.^[6]

Between 2005 and 2012 the PDS was associated with the international party network Alliance of Democrats. Within Senegal, the party has been part of the Patriotic Front for the Defence of the Republic since 2014 with And-Jëf/African Party for Democracy and Socialism.^[7]

Electoral history

Parliamentary elections

Election	Party leader	Number of votes		Number of seats
		#	%	#	±
1978	Abdoulaye Wade	172,948[10][11]	17.88	18 / 100	New party
1983	Abdoulaye Wade	150,785[10][11]	13.97	8 / 120	10
1988	Abdoulaye Wade	275,552[10][11]	24.74	17 / 120	9
1993	Abdoulaye Wade	321,585[10][11]	30.21	27 / 120	10
1998	Abdoulaye Wade	233,287[12][11]	19.1	23 / 140	4
2001	Abdoulaye Wade	931,617 (with Sopi Coalition)[13]	49.6	89 / 120	66
2007	Abdoulaye Wade	1,190,609 (with Sopi 2007)[14]	69.21	131 / 150	42
2012	Abdoulaye Wade	298,846[15][16]	15.23	12 / 150	113
2017	Abdoulaye Wade	552,095 (with Manko Wattu Sénégal Coalition)[17]	16.68	19 / 165	7

References

External links

• Official website