Gambiaj.com – (DAKAR, Senegal) – The atmosphere at the Senegalese National Assembly was tense on Tuesday as former Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko officially returned to his parliamentary seat after months away from the chamber, while opposition lawmakers boycotted proceedings to protest what they described as a “parliamentary hold-up.”
Sonko entered the hemicycle at exactly 9:14 a.m. to sustained applause from members of the ruling Pastef-Les Patriotes coalition, marking his formal reinstatement as a deputy.
The sitting was subsequently opened by acting session president Ismaïla Diallo, who reminded lawmakers that, following the resignation of Assembly Speaker El Malick Ndiaye, the sole item on the agenda was the election of a new president of the National Assembly.
In his opening remarks, Diallo announced that the Pastef-Les Patriotes parliamentary group had officially designated Sonko as its candidate for the presidency of the Assembly. He also recalled the relevant provisions of the Assembly’s internal regulations and outlined the procedures governing the vote before formally launching the electoral process.
However, the session proceeded in the absence of non-aligned deputies and lawmakers from the opposition Takku Wallu parliamentary group.
Led by opposition figure Aïssata Tall Sall, the group decided to boycott Tuesday’s proceedings entirely, arguing that the process surrounding Sonko’s return to parliament and the election of a new Assembly speaker violated the institution’s rules.
The opposition lawmakers denounced what they called the excessive speed of the procedure and strongly contested the conditions under which the extraordinary session was convened.
According to the frondeur lawmakers, the developments amount to a “parliamentary hold-up” that fails to comply with the National Assembly’s internal regulations.
Takku Wallu lawmakers said they would issue an official statement in the coming hours detailing the legal and political reasons behind their withdrawal from the session.
The developments come just days after President Bassirou Diomaye Faye dismissed Sonko from the premiership, triggering a rapid political reshuffle within Senegal’s institutions.
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