DAKAR, Senegal — Senegal’s political landscape has been thrown into a high-stakes standoff after the country’s former Prime Minister, Ousmane Sonko, was elected as the Speaker of the National Assembly just days after being dismissed by the president.
Sonko’s swift political resurrection on Monday night sets up a powerful institutional challenge to his former ally, President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, following months of deteriorating relations between the two leaders.
Okay News reports that the National Assembly’s previous Speaker stepped down on Sunday, clearing the path for Sonko’s African Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics and Fraternity (PASTEF) party—which holds a legislative majority—to vote him into the post.
The strategic move came just hours after President Faye appointed prominent economist Ahmadou Al Aminou Lo to replace Sonko as the nation’s Prime Minister in an effort to reassert executive authority.
The public rift between the long-time political partners reportedly escalated over economic policies, with Sonko openly criticizing President Faye’s management of Senegal’s widening sovereign debt crisis. Now holding the second-highest political office in the country, Sonko commands the legislative power to block executive policies and budget approvals.
Under Senegalese constitutional law, President Faye cannot dissolve the current parliament until at least two years have passed since the last legislative election, legally preventing the executive from forcing snap elections before November of this year.
Sonko, a highly popular figure who commands immense loyalty among Senegal’s youth, originally backed Faye’s successful 2024 presidential bid after being disqualified from running himself due to a prior defamation conviction. Analysts warn that this dramatic shift from close allies to bitter rivals introduces severe political instability into one of West Africa’s most resilient democracies.
