[2] Ousmane Tanor Dieng has been the First Secretary of the Socialist Party of Senegal since 1996 and was the presidential candidate in 2007 and 2012.

The best-known figure of the party was Léopold Sédar Senghor, the first president of Senegal.

[4] Senghor had founded the Senegalese Democratic Bloc in 1948 and in 1958 it merged with another political party to become the UPS.

[7] In the early 1960s, there was a personal and political rivalry between President Senghor and Prime Minister Mamadoua Dia.

[2] This occurred because Senghor was running unopposed as president and the economic stability of Senegal began to fade.

[2] Single-party rule prevented an overwhelming economic crisis and ensured social stability in Senegal, which was appealing to people in the country.

[2] Abdou Diouf, the 19-year incumbent of the Socialist Party, was defeated by Abdoulaye Wade.

[4] Senegal became one of the first African countries to remove the head of government by voting instead of a coup or violent measures.

In 2007, the Socialist Party participated in a boycott of the June 2007 parliamentary elections and has not held seats in the National Assembly since.

[13] The 2000 Senegalese presidential election ended 40 years of dominance by the Socialist Party of Senegal.

[14] Ousmane Tanor Dieng was the party's candidate in the 2007 Senegalese presidential election; he took third place with 13.56% of the vote.

The Socialist Party of Senegal has held seats in the National Assembly since it was created until 2007.

[10] Since independence, in the 1963, 1968, and 1973 elections the Socialist Party had full control of the National Assembly.