“Diomaye-Sonko, new season,” captured the tense relations between President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and his former Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko on June 30. Dismissed from the premiership on May 22, Sonko took the speaker’s chair of the National Assembly four days later.

New season, because two blocs now clash over a constitutional reform: the executive and the legislative. This is a “clash of institutions.”

On June 29, the National Assembly, where the party of the African Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics and Fraternity (Pastef) led by Ousmane Sonko holds 130 of the 165 seats, adopted a constitutional revision proposal. However, at the outset of the examination, the Minister of Justice Me Moussa Sarr announced that its adoption would be subject to a future referendum.

Transformation of the institutional architecture

The text divides. The government’s four amendment proposals were rejected by the law commission. The examination preceding the June 29 vote took place in a heated atmosphere, as opposition deputies left the chamber in protest.

“This reform, championed by the majority from