Senegal parliament speaker steps down as political crisis worsens

The speaker of Senegal’s parliament says he is resigning, two days after his close ally was fired as prime minister in a deepening political crisis.

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.

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

Ndiaye said on Facebook that his decision to step down was “a personal choice, guided above all by my notion of institutions, public responsibility and the greater interest of the nation”.

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

But there had been discord between the president and prime minister for months, making their governing alliance increasingly uncertain.

Faye’s dismissal of Sonko on Friday risked worsening uncertainty in a country grappling with a debt crisis and ⁠ongoing talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The IMF froze a $1.8bn lending programme following ‌the discovery of misreported debt hidden by the previous government, pushing the country’s end-2024 debt level to 132 percent of its economic output.

Faye’s move increases the threat of further delays in reaching a new agreement with the IMF.

On Friday, before Sonko’s dismissal, Finance Minister Cheikh Diba told parliament that the government expects to resume talks with the IMF in the second week of June, and hopes to reach an agreement on key points by June 30.

Sonko was a popular opposition leader under the previous administration of President Macky Sall, whose decision to delay the 2024 election spurred unrest.

Both Faye and Sonko are former tax officials who ⁠were jailed ahead of the 2024 election. They were released 10 days before the rescheduled contest, which Faye went on to win with 54 percent of the vote.

Pastef dominates the National Assembly, meaning it could complicate governance and the passage of reforms needed to secure IMF support. Last ‌month, politicians overwhelmingly approved electoral code changes that could pave the way for Sonko to run for president in 2029.