Senegal court declines to hear challenge against Sonko’s return to parliament

Senegal’s Constitutional Council on Wednesday declined to hear a challenge against former prime minister Ousmane Sonko’s recent reinstatement to parliament, where he now serves as speaker after a falling-out with President Bassirou Diomaye Faye.

The decision cements Sonko’s perch atop the National Assembly, where he could become a serious counterweight to the president’s ability to govern.

Faye dramatically fired Sonko as prime minister in late May after months of tension and growing disagreement between the former allies.

Sonko was subsequently reinstated to the National Assembly, where he was immediately and overwhelmingly elected speaker.

The Constitutional Council’s decision had been expected and is final, with no further recourse available for the opposition, which brought the challenge.

“The Constitutional Council has no jurisdiction to hear the contested decision,” it said.

Faye essentially owes his position as president to Sonko, his onetime mentor, who would almost certainly have taken the top job had he not been barred from running in the west African country’s 2024 presidential election due to a defamation conviction.

The two men, both members of the pan-Africanist Pastef party, fell out over disagreements on how Senegal should battle its massive public debt and other policy issues.

Earlier this month, Sonko won re-election as head of Pastef party.