Senegal national assembly clamors for removal of deputy ousmane sonko
The Front pour la Défense de la République (FDR) has issued a formal declaration demanding the immediate removal of Ousmane Sonko from his seat in the Senegalese National Assembly. The coalition, led by Khalifa Sall, has branded his parliamentary presence as both illegal and unjustified, intensifying pressure on the government and the ruling party.
The statement, endorsed by the coalition’s Conference of Leaders, commends the unified stance of 147 political parties and civic movements that signed a joint declaration on May 24 to oppose what they describe as an attempted parliamentary coup by the PASTEF. The FDR also welcomes the decision of opposition lawmakers to refer the matter to the Constitutional Council, seeking a legal resolution to the controversy.
Central to the FDR’s argument is Article LO172 of the Electoral Code, which stipulates that any minister elected to the National Assembly must resign from their government post within eight days—failure to do so results in automatic forfeiture of their parliamentary mandate. The coalition asserts that the PASTEF party attempted to bypass this requirement by amending the Assembly’s internal regulations. However, the FDR contends that this move is constitutionally flawed on two critical grounds:
- Violation of Article 54 of the Constitution: Any procedural change concerning the return of a minister-deputy must be enacted through an organic law integrated into the Electoral Code, not hidden within the Assembly’s internal rules.
- Introduction of an unrecognized category: The amended regulation establishes the concept of ‘deputy substitutes’, a classification not recognized in Senegalese law outside the context of departmental and proportional electoral systems.
The FDR argues that by altering the Assembly’s rules, the PASTEF has simultaneously breached the Constitution, the Electoral Code, and the Assembly’s own regulations—whose purpose, as defined in their first article, is strictly to organize internal operations. In response, the coalition is rallying ‘the vital forces of the nation’ to unite behind a comprehensive action plan aimed at upholding the rule of law and ensuring compliance with Senegal’s legal framework.
