Ousmane Sonko intensifies constitutional challenge against President Faye

During his recent tour through the Baol region, Ousmane Sonko, leader of Pastef, significantly sharpened his critique of President Bassirou Diomaye Faye. Speaking this Sunday in Touba, where he inaugurated the Pastef-Touba headquarters and delivered a lecture on contemporary political issues, Sonko directly addressed the Constitutional Council’s decision to invalidate the constitutional revision law, openly disputing its underlying rationale.

Initially advocating for adherence to the high court’s ruling, asserting that it “binds everyone,” the President of the National Assembly adopted a different tone in Touba. He directly attacked the presidential practice of repeatedly referring matters to the Constitutional Council, remarking, “Every week, he will seize the Constitutional Council.” This statement underscored his perception of the Head of State’s systematic reliance on the Council’s arbitration to obstruct parliamentary initiatives.

Ousmane Sonko further challenged the very logic behind the Council’s decision, asserting, “The Constitutional Council cannot dictate that deputies must pass laws favored by the President of the Republic.” This constitutes a frontal assault on the reasoning of the seven judges, who had based their invalidation on procedural grounds, specifically citing the lack of compensatory resources for new public expenditures created by the text and non-compliance with the blocked vote procedure. Sonko concluded his address with a solemn warning: “What is happening in this country is serious.”

These remarks from the President of the National Assembly signify a notable shift in his communication strategy, which initially projected a stance of institutional appeasement following the July 9 decision. They coincide with Pastef’s Baol tour, framed as a community outreach and territorial reinforcement initiative, now evolving into a political counter-offensive against the Presidency’s own recomposition efforts, which have recently seen hundreds of mayors received and the impending announcement of its own political party.