The West Africa Democracy Solidarity Network (WADEMOS) will, from Monday, January 29–Tuesday, February 6, 2024, embark on a solidarity mission to Senegal, ahead of the country’s general elections on February 25, 2024.

The pre-election mission follows similar exercises in Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Liberia ahead of their respective elections in 2023. The pre-election mission aims to strengthen solidarity among civil society and pro-democracy actors, engage key election stakeholders on how CSOs can support the process and contribute to improving the quality and credibility of elections in the sub-region.

In our quest to ensure democracy thrives in the sub-region while countering the causes of the recent democratic decline, WADEMOS, as part of the pre-election mission, conducts an analysis of the electoral context, builds the capacity of CSOs in election monitoring and produces evidence-driven assessment statements and outcome reports, which the Network shares with all stakeholders and regional bodies to influence policy, reforms and interventions.

Led by Prof. Prempeh, the Project Director of WADEMOS and the Executive Director of the Ghana Center for Democratic Development, the delegation is expected to engage and liaise with the in-country members of the Network, including Afrikajom, Africtivistes, West Africa Citizen Think Tank (WATHI) and the human rights group RADDHO (African Meeting for the Defense of Human Rights).

The delegation is comprised of representatives of the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG in Ghana), Women Leaders Network for Development (RFLD in Benin), ABLOGUI (Guinea), Coalition for Citizen Observation of Elections in Mali, Sustainable Gender Action Initiative / The Cable News (Nigeria), West Africa Elections Observation Network (WAEON) & CNSC-Togo.

The WADEMOS delegation will have engagements with the Senegal Autonomous National Electoral Committee (CENA), the ECOWAS Representative in Senegal, the Human Rights Commission, the various political parties, the media, and development partners.

The mission would be concluded with a roundtable meeting between civil society and other stakeholders to disseminate its observations and findings, discuss the issues, resolve the challenges and reinforce the gains. A webinar with other regional bodies, civil society and development partners would be organized following the mission as part of strategies to disseminate and engage more stakeholders on the issues identified.