Senegal: Ousmane Sonko re-elected Pastef leader, warns political rivals

Ousmane Sonko, president of Senegal’s National Assembly and former prime minister, secured a decisive re-election as head of his party Pastef on Saturday. The victory quickly became a stark warning to his political opponents amid Senegal’s ongoing political crisis.

Delegates from national chapters and the diaspora gathered in Diamniadio, near Dakar, for the party’s first congress.

Sonko, who has led Pastef since its founding in 2014, retains his position for a new six-year term.

“I fully measure the weight of this responsibility, because Pastef is no ordinary party in Senegal’s political landscape,” he told the assembly after his election.

“Revolutions can be diverted, absorbed, or drained of their substance when they lack either a clear doctrine or an organisation capable of anchoring change over the long term. That is why this congress is historic, two years after we acceded to the highest responsibilities,” he added.

President Bassirou Diomaye Faye won the presidency in 2024 with Pastef’s backing, after Sonko was barred from running for president.

Following months of tensions, Faye dismissed Sonko as prime minister on May 22. Sonko was elected president of the National Assembly shortly after.

Addressing Pastef delegates, Sonko warned against attempts to “sabotage” the political project his party champions.

“No plan to sabotage this revolution will succeed, because the people, standing alongside Pastef, will provide the necessary guarantees so that we may finally liberate our country,” he cautioned.

Pastef’s leadership has boycotted the government appointed on Monday by Faye, despite several party members being included in the new ministerial list.

Pastef holds 130 of the 165 seats in the National Assembly and can at any moment table a motion of no confidence to topple the government. Faye, in turn, can form a new government after a censure and will be able to dissolve the National Assembly starting in November 2026.