Léopold Sédar Senghor

Senegal's first president, also a celebrated poet, resigned voluntarily on 31 December 1980 and handed over to his prime minister, Abdou Diouf, under a constitutional succession clause. Very few African founding presidents of that era left office alive and by choice. Senghor had governed a one-party state for years, but he had reopened the system to a limited number of parties in the late 1970s, which set Senegal on its path to genuine competition.