Senegal parliament speaker steps down in political crisis

DAKAR — The speaker of Senegal's parliament said Sunday he was resigning, two days after his close ally was fired as prime minister, deepening a political crisis in the debt-laden West African country.

The move by speaker El Malick Ndiaye clears the way for sacked premier Ousmane Sonko to run for the post of head of parliament, where his Pastef party holds a strong majority, in a challenge to President Bassirou Diomaye Faye.

Deputies have been summoned to a full session of the assembly on Tuesday morning to reinstate Sonko as a member of parliament and vote for a new speaker, said an official document published late Sunday.

That could further complicate reform efforts by Faye, who sacked his former ally Sonko on Friday after months of tensions.

Faye owed his presidency in large part to Sonko, who would almost certainly have taken the top job had he not been barred from running in the last presidential election due to a defamation conviction.

Their Pastef party comfortably won the 2024 elections on a promise of a profound political shake-up, vowing to fight corruption and inheriting an economy mired in debt.

Sonko had generated a passionate following among Senegal's disaffected youth ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Despite Sonko's popular appeal, however, Faye held all the real power as president.

But in recent months, relations had soured between Faye and his one-time mentor. And as the discord between the president and prime minister became increasingly public, their governing alliance crumbled.

Speaker of Senegal's parliament El Malick Ndiaye (back, centre) reacts as former Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko delivers his adress at the national Assembly in Dakar in November last year. (AFP Photo)

Sonko had become vocal in his criticism of his former protege, accusing Faye of a "failure of leadership" for not backing him against his critics.

He also regularly denounced what he said was the slow pace of legal action for corruption against senior figures in the previous government of former president Macky Sall.

The two also disagreed on the crucial question of how to tackle Senegal's high debt.

A difficult cohabitation

Hours after Sonko's dismissal, hundreds of his supporters gathered outside his Dakar home to show their support for him — and it is Sonko who is the uncontested leader of Pastef, with its large parliamentary majority.

Sonko's departure as premier raised the question of how Faye can govern the country when he cannot be assured of the support of the ruling party.

"One can imagine that it is going to be complicated to cohabit with this majority of the Pastef party in the Assembly," said Babacar Ndiaye, research director of the West African Think Tank (WATHI).

Faye has to name another prime minister to replace Sonko — and that choice will have to be approved by parliament within three months of his nomination, said Ndiaye.
"If the deputies decide to table a motion of censure or no confidence, they are capable of doing so," he added.

The president cannot dissolve parliament itself until November, two years after the last parliamentary election.

And a reform of the electoral code approved by parliament a few weeks ago means that Sonko is now eligible to run for the presidency.

That raises the possibility that the two former political allies might at some point run against each other for the top job.