“We need to have the legislative means, to be able to pass our laws, to control government action, to carry out accountability… This is why we need the Senegalese to give us an overwhelming majority“, declared Mr. Sonko, head of the list of his Pastef party, in a message published Wednesday evening on Facebook.
The Senegalese will elect a new Assembly on November 17, eight months after the presidential election which saw the victory of Bassirou Diomaye Faye, Mr. Sonko’s second, the latter having been prevented from running. Mr. Faye, elected on the promise of rupture, social justice and the fight against corruption, and Mr. Sonko, appointed head of government, faced for months a hostile parliamentary majority resulting from the 2022 elections.
To be able to secure a new majority, Mr. Faye dissolved the Assembly in September, as soon as the Constitution allowed him to do so, opening the way to early elections. MM. Faye and Sonko must meet the high expectations of a very young population, a large part of which struggles on a daily basis to find work and make ends meet.
Since their installation, the authorities have lowered the prices of rice, oil and sugar and launched all-out audits. They have just presented a plan for the next five years, at the same time as a project to transform the economy and public policies over 25 years.
The opposition accuses them of inaction, amateurism and a thirst for settling scores. “Many say things are going slow“, admitted Mr. Sonko. But the outgoing parliamentary majority “made it difficult for us“, he stressed.
Mr. Sonko repeated the desire hammered out since March to demand and hold accountable former leaders who are suspected of culpable actions in the management of affairs, starting with former President Macky Sall. “All those involved in dirty things will be held accountable.“, he declared. Gold “only a High Court of Justice can judge personalities such as ministers or the President of the Republic, and only the National Assembly has the power to set up this High Court of Justice“.
Under the Constitution, the president can only be held responsible for high treason. He can then be impeached by the Assembly by a three-fifths majority, and tried by the High Court. Ministers can be held responsible for crimes or offenses committed in their functions.
