In accordance with the provisions of the Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance relating to the observation of elections and ECOWAS Electoral Assistance, the West African regional organisation has deployed a 90-member election observation mission (EOM) drawn from the Community Court of Justice, the foreign affairs ministries and electoral management bodies of Member States, civil society organisations, and a technical team from the ECOWAS Commission.

Ambassador Francis Alex Tsegah, a former Ghanaian diplomat and the first Ambassador of Ghana to the Kingdom of Spain from 2004 to 2009 will lead the ECOWAS Election Observation Mission (EOM) for the legislative elections in Senegal on Sunday 17th November 2024. He arrived in Dakar on Wednesday 13 November 2024.

The Head of ECOWAS EOM is a Career Diplomat, who worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration of Ghana. He served in several senior positions, including Director of the Economic and Investment Bureau, Director of Personnel and Training, Director of Policy Planning and Research Department, as well as Chief of Protocol and Director of the Africa and OAU Bureau.

Ambassador Tsegah is currently a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), a Member of the Advisory Board of the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) in Ghana, and a board member of the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI). He is a lawyer by training, graduating with L.L.B. from the University of Ghana and L.L.M. from the Harvard Law School.

During his stay, the Head of the ECOWAS EOM, who will be assisted by a technical team led by Serigne Mamadou KA, acting Head of the Electoral Assistance Division, will be holding working sessions with various stakeholders, including the Autonomous National Electoral Commission (CENA), the government, civil society organisations, and the media.

The ECOWAS EOM will be working in collaboration with the African Union Election Observation Mission to Senegal to ensure maximum coverage.

The electoral campaign for these legislative elections began on 27 October and will end on 15 November. A total of 165 seats are at stake in 53 constituencies spread across Senegal’s 45 Districts, plus 8 constituencies in the diaspora.