Just last week Senegal held a constitutional Congress, its first following a 2007 constitutional amendment. At the Congress, five constitutional reforms were passed, including a French-style parity bill.

Now, another constitutional amendment is on the cards. In May the Council of Ministers agreed a decision to extend the president’s mandate from five to seven years. On Monday, the National Assembly approved a constitutional reform bill to this end, though not without, according to afriqueenligne, a fairly robust debate. As I understand it, the reform bill has to be passed by the Senate and then there would have to be either a referendum or another Congress. So, there is no guarantee that the reform will actually come into effect and, certainly, it is highly contested.

La Constitution en Afrique reminds us that the length of the president’s mandate has been a political football in Senegal. It has gone from 7 years (1960-1963), to 4 years (1963-1967), to 5 years (1967-1992), to 7 years (1992-2001), and then to 5 years again since 2001. Recall that Senegal was semi-presidential from 1970-83 and then again from 1991 onwards.

In 2001, Senegal also changed from a premier-presidential form of semi-presidentialism to a president-parliamentary form (Art. 53).

President Abdoulaye Wade was re-elected in 2007, so his mandate currently expires in 2012. He is rumoured to be grooming his son as a potential successor.