Senegal’s former Prime Minister, Ousmane Sonko, has been elected Speaker of the National Assembly, marking a dramatic return to the centre of power just days after he was removed from office by President Bassirou Diomaye Faye.
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Sonko, who was the sole candidate for the position, secured 132 votes out of 133 ballots cast during Tuesday’s parliamentary session in Dakar. One lawmaker abstained, while no vote was recorded against him. Senegal’s National Assembly has 165 seats.
The session was boycotted by about 30 opposition lawmakers, who challenged the legality and speed of Sonko’s reinstatement as a member of parliament before his emergence as Speaker.
Sonko succeeds El Malick Ndiaye, who resigned as Speaker on Sunday, a move that cleared the way for the former prime minister’s return to the legislature. His election came barely days after President Faye dismissed him as prime minister and dissolved the government following months of political tension between the two former allies.
In his first remarks after his election, Sonko reportedly issued a strong political warning, declaring that “there will be no government without PASTEF,” the ruling party he leads and which commands a majority in parliament.
The development has deepened Senegal’s institutional power struggle. While President Faye controls the executive arm of government, Sonko now presides over the legislature, giving him significant influence over lawmaking, budgets and reform proposals.
Faye has since appointed Ahmadou Al Aminou Lo, a former senior official of the Central Bank of West African States, as the new prime minister in an effort to stabilise the government and restore investor confidence.
The political crisis is unfolding at a sensitive economic moment for Senegal. The country is facing a worsening debt crisis, with public debt reported at 132 percent of GDP, while a $1.8 billion International Monetary Fund programme remains frozen over debt-reporting concerns.
Sonko’s removal as prime minister had been seen by some analysts as a possible opening for smoother talks with the IMF, given his previous opposition to foreign-backed debt restructuring and fuel price increases. However, his new position as head of parliament could complicate the passage of economic reforms if relations between the presidency and the PASTEF-controlled legislature deteriorate further.
The election of Sonko as Speaker now places Senegal in a delicate political balance, with the president and his former prime minister occupying the two most powerful political platforms in the country.
Although the National Assembly vote has restored Sonko to a major institutional role, the wider confrontation between the executive and the legislature appears far from over. Current developments suggest that the coming months may determine whether Senegal moves toward political accommodation or a deeper constitutional standoff.
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