Senegal’s National Assembly elected ousted Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko as its president on Tuesday, a move that could make it even more difficult for President Bassirou Diomaye Faye to govern amid the country’s massive debt crisis.
Four days ago, President Faye suddenly dismissed Sonko, his former mentor, and dissolved the government after months of tension and growing disagreements, including over the state of the economy.
However, MPs on Tuesday rejected the president’s move and overwhelmingly supported Sonko – the only candidate – for the powerful post of parliament speaker.
A political rift between the former allies, who belong to the same party, threatens to bring President Faye into direct conflict with the charismatic Sonko and his supporters in parliament.
Sonko remains the undisputed leader of the Pastef party, which he founded in 2014 and which controls 130 of the 165 seats in Senegal’s sole legislature.
After winning 132 votes, without a single vote against and with one abstention, Sonko was greeted with prolonged applause, said the chairman of the session, Ismael Diallo.
After assuming the new position, Sonko said that he will not use his position “to cause institutional chaos, create an institutional crisis or create problems for the president of the republic”.
– No representative who is with me will use this institution for personal revenge – said Sonko, speaking in the Wolof language.
However, he added that the National Assembly will not be “an institution that only confirms decisions”.
He emphasized that the parliament must represent the mechanism of control of the government and said that it will “adopt laws that are in the public interest, and reject those that are not.”
Sonko replaced El Malick Ndiaye, his loyal ally, who resigned on Sunday, paving the way for the appointment of the former prime minister.
“Institutional Coup”
The opposition, which claims that Sonko’s return to parliament is illegal, boycotted the vote by leaving the hall.
– The parliamentary majority installed Ousmane Sonko, who has already lost his parliamentary mandate and cannot regain it. We will not participate in this farce – said opposition representative Abdou Mbow.
Aissata Tall Sall, the leader of the main opposition party, condemned what she called an “institutional coup”, claiming that the process was prepared under “the pressure that the majority wants to impose”.
Faye appointed Sonko as prime minister in April 2024, just days after he was elected president.
Many believe that Sonko would almost certainly have won the presidential elections if his candidacy had not been banned due to the defamation verdict.
With his pan-Africanist rhetoric, Sonko has gained a lot of support among young people in Senegal after years of political conflict with former president Macky Salla, who ruled from 2012 to 2024.
Tensions between Faye and Sonko began to surface in July, when Sonko accused the president of a “lack of leadership” for not defending him sufficiently against his many critics.
Earlier this month, President Faye indirectly criticized Sonko, saying that the party must be “depersonalized” and must not depend on individual leaders.
(Vijesti.ba)
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