The speaker of Senegal’s parliament said on Sunday he was resigning, two days after his close ally was fired as prime minister, deepening a political crisis in the 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.
‘Failure of leadership’
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.
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.
The two also disagreed on the crucial question of how to tackle Senegal’s high debt.
