Friday, September 13, 2024 - Senegal’s President, Bassirou Diomaye Faye has dissolved the country’s opposition-led National Assembly in a bid to break the tension between the legislature and the executive branch.
In a national address, Faye said snap elections will be
conducted on Nov. 17 this year.
“By virtue of the powers conferred on me by Article 87 of
the Constitution, and after consulting the Constitutional Council on the right
date, the Prime Minister and the President of the National Assembly, on the
expediency, I dissolve the National Assembly,” he said.
The move came six months after Faye was elected under an
opposition platform.
He said the opposition-dominated legislature had made it
hard for him to carry out the “systemic transformation” he promised during
campaigns.
He asked voters to give his Patriots of Senegal for Work,
Ethics and Fraternity (PASTEF) party a mandate.
The outgoing house, elected in 2022, was dominated by
members of former President Macky Sall’s Benno Bokk Yakaar (United in Hope)
coalition.
Tension between the executive and the legislature was
reported recently after opposition lawmakers cancelled a budget debate and
threatened to table a motion to censure the government.
The Benno Bokk Yakaar parliamentary group criticized the
dissolution, saying it was aimed at avoiding the submission of a motion to
censure the government by the parliamentary majority.
In a statement, the group accused President Faye and Prime
Minister Ousmane Sonko of “manipulating institutions to serve their own
political interests.”
“This dissolution is a blatant attempt to silence the
parliamentary opposition and avoid any democratic debate on the management of
the country,” said Abdou Mbow, president of the majority parliamentary group.
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