Ousmane Sonko warns political rivals after re-election as Pastef leader

Ousmane Sonko, president of Senegal’s National Assembly and former prime minister, was overwhelmingly re-elected on Saturday as head of his party, Pastef. This political victory quickly served as a warning to his political opponents amid the ongoing political crisis in Senegal.

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, 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 told the gathering after his election.

“Revolutions can be hijacked, absorbed or emptied of their content when they lack a clear doctrine or an organisation capable of anchoring 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 running in the presidential election.

After months of tensions, Faye dismissed Sonko from his post as prime minister on 22 May.

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

Before the Pastef delegates, Sonko warned against attempts to “sabotage” the political project driven 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 President Faye, despite the presence of some party members 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 censure to overturn the government.

President Faye, for his part, can form a new government after a censure and will be able to dissolve the National Assembly from November 2026.