Pol;itics of Senegal

Senegal was a French colony from 1850 to 1960. as early as 1879, the residents of the major cities along the coast were granted french citizenship and were allowed to elect their own mayors and municipal councils and a representative to the Chamaber of Deputies in Paris.
After WWII voting privileges and rights of free association were extended throughout the country. Through this process, the Senegelese acquired the habit of political debate and the skills of political mobilization, and management.
Civic understanding of modern politics and the existence of a turbulent intellectual and commercial bourgeoisie explain why the Senegelese avoided the authoritarianism that appeared elsewhere in Africa. After a brief period of de facto one party rule following independence.Senegal's domestic political history has been pluralistic; four parties between 1974 and 1981 , and since 1981, seventeen political parties competing at the local, regional and national levels. Moreover, the electoral system of proportional representation encourages the representation of diverse interests.
Senegal is a republic with a presidency, the president is elected every five years as of 2001, previously being seven years, by adult votes.The current president is Macky Sall, ( Macky Sall is a Senegalese politician who has been President of Senegal since April 2012.) Under President Abdoulaye Wade, Sall was Prime Minister of Senegal from April 2004 to June 2007 and President  in March 2012.

Senegal has more than 80 political parties. The bicameral parliament consists of the National Assembly, which has 120 seats, and the senate which has 100 seats and was reinstituted in 2007. An independent judiciary also exists in Senegal.