Former Senegal Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko elected President of the National Assembly

Ousmane Sonko has officially been elected President of the National Assembly of Senegal.

In an extraordinary plenary session held today Tuesday, May 26, 2026, lawmakers first reinstated Sonko as a Member of Parliament before swiftly electing him to lead the Assembly.

The move was pushed through by the ruling Pastef coalition, which controls 130 of the 165 parliamentary seats.

But the political drama behind the vote was intense.

President Bassirou Diomaye Faye reportedly made a last-minute attempt to halt the process by referring the matter to the Constitutional Council.

The court declined to intervene, ruling that the issue fell under the Assembly’s internal procedures.

Opposition parties immediately condemned the move as an institutional power grab, while several constitutional experts questioned whether Sonko’s reinstatement complied with Article 54 of the Constitution.

None of it stopped the outcome.

Just four days after being dismissed as Prime Minister by President Faye, Sonko has returned at the center of power — now as Speaker of Parliament.

This is an unprecedented political comeback in Senegalese history and could fundamentally reshape the balance of power between the presidency, parliament and the ruling Pastef movement itself.