Ousmane Sonko warns political rivals after Pastef re-election

The speaker of Senegal’s National Assembly and former prime minister Ousmane Sonko was overwhelmingly re-elected on Saturday to lead his party, Pastef, a political victory that quickly served as a warning to his political adversaries amid Senegal’s ongoing political crisis.

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

At the helm of Pastef since its founding in 2014, Ousmane Sonko retains his position for a new six-year term.

“I measure the weight of this responsibility because Pastef is not an ordinary party in the Senegalese political landscape,” he said from the podium after his election.

“Revolutions can be diverted, absorbed or emptied of their content when they lack a clear doctrine or an organisation capable of embedding change over time. That is why this congress is historic, two years after we assumed the highest responsibilities,” he added.

President Bassirou Diomaye Faye won the presidency with Pastef’s support in 2024, after Ousmane Sonko was barred from the presidential race.

Following months of tensions, Bassirou Diomaye Faye dismissed Ousmane Sonko as prime minister on 22 May.

Sonko was elected speaker of the National Assembly a few days later.

Speaking before Pastef delegates, Ousmane Sonko warned against attempts to “sabotage” the political project championed by his party.

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

Pastef’s leadership boycotted the government appointed on Monday by Bassirou Diomaye Faye, despite some members of Ousmane Sonko’s party being included in the new ministerial list.

Pastef holds 130 of the 165 seats in the National Assembly and can at any time file a motion of no confidence to topple the government.

Bassirou Diomaye Faye can, in turn, form a new government after a no-confidence vote and may dissolve the National Assembly from November 2026.