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The Most Famous

POLITICIANS from Senegal

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This page contains a list of the greatest Senegalese Politicians. The pantheon dataset contains 15,577 Politicians, 12 of which were born in Senegal. This makes Senegal the birth place of the 135th most number of Politicians behind Mozambique and Yemen.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Senegalese Politicians of all time. This list of famous Senegalese Politicians is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Senegalese Politicians.

Photo of Abdoulaye Wade

1. Abdoulaye Wade (1926 - )

With an HPI of 61.58, Abdoulaye Wade is the most famous Senegalese Politician.  His biography has been translated into 51 different languages on wikipedia.

Abdoulaye Wade (French pronunciation: [abdulaj wad]; born 29 May 1926) is a French then Senegalese politician who was President of Senegal from 2000 to 2012. He is also the Secretary-General of the Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS), having led the party since it was founded in 1974. A long-time opposition leader, he ran for President four times, beginning in 1978, before he was elected in 2000. He won re-election in 2007 with a majority in the first round, but in 2012 he was defeated in a controversial bid for a third term.

Photo of Abdou Diouf

2. Abdou Diouf (1935 - )

With an HPI of 60.11, Abdou Diouf is the 2nd most famous Senegalese Politician.  His biography has been translated into 44 different languages.

Abdou Diouf (US: AHB-doo dee-OOF; Serer: Abdu Juuf; born 7 September 1935) is a Senegalese politician who was the second President of Senegal, in office from January 1981 to April 2000. Diouf is notable both for coming to power by peaceful succession and leaving willingly after losing the 2000 presidential election to Abdoulaye Wade. He was also the second Secretary-General of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie from January 2003 to December 2014.

Photo of Ségolène Royal

3. Ségolène Royal (1953 - )

With an HPI of 59.51, Ségolène Royal is the 3rd most famous Senegalese Politician.  Her biography has been translated into 67 different languages.

Marie-Ségolène Royal (French: [seɡɔlɛn ʁwajal] ; born 22 September 1953) is a French politician who was the Socialist Party candidate for the Presidency of France in the 2007 election. Royal was president of the Poitou-Charentes Regional Council from 2004 to 2014. She won the 2006 Socialist Party primary, becoming the first woman in France to be nominated as a presidential candidate by a major party. In the subsequent 2007 presidential election, she earned further distinction as the first woman to qualify for the second round of a presidential election, but ultimately lost to Nicolas Sarkozy. In 2008, Royal narrowly lost to Martine Aubry in the Socialist Party's election for First Secretary at the Party's twenty-second national congress. She lost the Socialist Party presidential primary in 2011, and failed in an attempt to win a seat in the National Assembly in the June 2012 parliamentary elections. She has four children with François Hollande, the former president, and was appointed by him to the vice-chair directorship of the Banque Publique d'Investissement (BPI) in 2013. She served as Minister for Ecology from 2014 to 2017, in the Valls, then Cazeneuve cabinets.

Photo of Macky Sall

4. Macky Sall (1961 - )

With an HPI of 57.78, Macky Sall is the 4th most famous Senegalese Politician.  His biography has been translated into 54 different languages.

Macky Sall (French pronunciation: [maki sal], Wolof: Maki Sàll, Pulaar: 𞤃𞤢𞤳𞤭 𞤅𞤢𞤤‎, romanized: Maki Sal; born 11 December 1961) is a Senegalese politician who has served as the President of Senegal since April 2012. He was re-elected President in the first round voting in February 2019. Under President Abdoulaye Wade, Sall was Prime Minister of Senegal from July 2004 to June 2007 and President of the National Assembly from June 2007 to November 2008.He was the Mayor of Fatick from 2002 to 2008 and held that post again from 2009 to 2012. Sall was a long-time member of the Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS). After coming into conflict with Wade, he was removed from his post as President of the National Assembly in November 2008; he consequently founded his own party named the Alliance for the Republic (APR) and joined the opposition. Placing second in the first round of the 2012 presidential election, he won the backing of other opposition candidates and prevailed over Wade in the second round of voting, held on 25 March 2012. He is the first president born after Senegalese independence from France.

Photo of Amadou-Mahtar M'Bow

5. Amadou-Mahtar M'Bow (1921 - )

With an HPI of 50.87, Amadou-Mahtar M'Bow is the 5th most famous Senegalese Politician.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Amadou-Mahtar M'Bow GCIH (born 20 March 1921) is a Senegalese retired civil servant and former Director-General of UNESCO. Born in Dakar, M'bow served in France and North Africa during World War II after volunteering for the French Army, also serving with the Free French, and finally in the French Air Force. After the end of the war, he studied geography at the Sorbonne University in Paris. He served at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris from 1953 to 1987.

Photo of Mame Madior Boye

6. Mame Madior Boye (1940 - )

With an HPI of 47.12, Mame Madior Boye is the 6th most famous Senegalese Politician.  Her biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Mame Madior Boye (Wolof: Maam Maajoor Bóoy; born 7 December 1940) is a Senegalese politician who served as Prime Minister of Senegal from 2001 to 2002. She was the first woman to hold that position.

Photo of Mahammed Dionne

7. Mahammed Dionne (1959 - )

With an HPI of 46.12, Mahammed Dionne is the 7th most famous Senegalese Politician.  His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Mahammed Boun Abdallah Dionne (born 22 September 1959) is a Senegalese politician who served as the Prime Minister of Senegal from 2014 to 2019. He was the third prime minister appointed by President Macky Sall. Dionne served at the Central Bank of West African States, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (ONUDI), and as the advisor of the president, before his appointment as prime minister. He is a computer engineer by training.

Photo of Habib Thiam

8. Habib Thiam (1933 - 2017)

With an HPI of 44.15, Habib Thiam is the 8th most famous Senegalese Politician.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Habib Thiam (21 January 1933 – 26 June 2017) was a Senegalese politician. He served as Prime Minister of Senegal on two occasions, from 1 January 1981 to 3 April 1983, and again from 8 April 1991 until 3 July 1998. He also served as President of the National Assembly from 1983 to 1984.

Photo of Aminata Touré

9. Aminata Touré (1962 - )

With an HPI of 40.54, Aminata Touré is the 9th most famous Senegalese Politician.  Her biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Aminata Touré (born 12 October 1962) is a Senegalese politician who served as the Prime Minister of Senegal from 1 September 2013 to 4 July 2014. She was the second female Prime Minister of Senegal after Mame Madior Boye, and she previously served as Justice Minister from 2012 to 2013. While campaigning for the upcoming elections in February 2024, she was arrested by the police and detained for six hours though never charged with any crime.Her appointment as Prime Minister was announced while she was pursuing several corruption cases involving former government figures. She vowed to continue the course of "development and improving the living conditions of our citizens." She has been dubbed "Iron Lady" in the press due to her anti-corruption campaign and platform. She has worked for women's rights in her previous career positions.

Photo of Cheikh Hadjibou Soumaré

10. Cheikh Hadjibou Soumaré (1951 - )

With an HPI of 40.21, Cheikh Hadjibou Soumaré is the 10th most famous Senegalese Politician.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Cheikh Hadjibou Soumaré (born 24 October 1951) was Prime Minister of Senegal from 2007 to 2009 and Chairman of the Commission of the West African Economic and Monetary Union from 2011 to 2016.

Pantheon has 12 people classified as politicians born between 1921 and 1976. Of these 12, 11 (91.67%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living politicians include Abdoulaye Wade, Abdou Diouf, and Ségolène Royal. The most famous deceased politicians include Habib Thiam.

Living Politicians

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Deceased Politicians

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