Senegal parliament speaker steps down as political crisis worsens
Senegal’s parliament speaker has resigned after the prime minister was fired, deepening a power struggle inside the ruling party.
Intelligence analysis by GPT-5.4 Mini
El Malick Ndiaye’s resignation opens the door for ousted prime minister Ousmane Sonko to seek the parliamentary top job, as tensions between Sonko and President Bassirou Diomaye Faye spill into the open. The split lands amid debt trouble, IMF talks and rising uncertainty over Senegal’s reform agenda.
Senegal’s leaders are fighting with each other. The person who runs parliament quit, and that opens the door for another big politician, Ousmane Sonko, to try for a new top job there.
This matters because Sonko and President Bassirou Diomaye Faye used to be close partners. Their split is like a team breaking apart right in the middle of a big game.
The country is also dealing with money problems and needs help from the International Monetary Fund. If the leaders keep arguing, it may be harder to fix the economy and make new rules work.
Analysis
What happened
El Malick Ndiaye, the speaker of Senegal’s parliament, said he is stepping down just two days after his close ally Ousmane Sonko was removed as prime minister. Ndiaye said on Facebook that the move was a personal choice tied to his view of institutions, public responsibility and the national interest.
His resignation clears a path for Sonko to seek the post of head of parliament, where the ruling Pastef party holds a strong majority. That would keep Sonko in a major political role even after his dismissal from government.
Why the split matters
The change comes after months of tension between President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Sonko. Faye owed much of his rise to Sonko, who became a powerful opposition figure under the previous administration and was barred from the last presidential race because of a defamation conviction. Both men were jailed before the 2024 election, then released shortly before Faye won with 54 percent of the vote.
Pastef won power in 2024 promising a major political reset, stronger anti-corruption efforts and a break with the old order. But the party now faces internal discord at the same time Senegal is dealing with a debt crisis and talks with the International Monetary Fund.
Economic pressure
The IMF froze a $1.8bn lending programme after discovering debt had been misreported by the previous government. The article says Senegal’s debt reached 132 percent of economic output by the end of 2024. Finance Minister Cheikh Diba told parliament the government expects to resume IMF talks in the second week of June and wants agreement on key points by June 30.
The political break between Faye and Sonko could make it harder to secure IMF support and pass reforms. Parliament also recently approved electoral code changes that could allow Sonko to run for president in 2029.
Key points
- Senegal’s parliament speaker, El Malick Ndiaye, resigned after Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko was fired.
- The resignation could let Sonko run for head of parliament, where Pastef has a strong majority.
- The rupture deepens a public split between President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Sonko, his former ally.
- Senegal is also under pressure from a debt crisis and stalled IMF talks after misreported debt was uncovered.
- Finance Minister Cheikh Diba said the government hopes to resume IMF talks in June.
