Ousmane Sonko, president of Sénégal’s National Assembly and former prime minister, was overwhelmingly re-elected as leader of his party Pastef on Saturday, a political victory that quickly became a warning to his political opponents amid the ongoing political crisis in Sénégal.
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 creation 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 Sénégal political landscape,” he said from the podium after his election.
“Revolutions can be diverted, absorbed or emptied of their content if they do not have a clear doctrine or an organisation capable of embedding change over time. 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 with Pastef’s support in 2024, after Ousmane Sonko was barred from running in the presidential election.
After months of tensions, Bassirou Diomaye Faye dismissed Ousmane Sonko as prime minister on May 22.
Sonko was elected president of the National Assembly a few days later.
Before the Pastef delegates, Ousmane Sonko warned against attempts to “sabotage” the political project carried by his party.
“No plan to sabotage this revolution will succeed because the people, standing with Pastef, will provide the necessary guarantees so that we can finally liberate our country,” he warned.
Pastef’s leadership boycotted the government appointed on Monday by Bassirou Diomaye Faye, despite the presence of some members of Ousmane Sonko’s party on 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, for his part, can form a new government after a censure and will be able to dissolve the National Assembly from November 2026.
