The National Assembly’s majority bloc, led by the Pastef party, successfully passed the constitutional reform bill with 129 votes in favor. Opposition lawmakers boycotted the session entirely after security personnel forcibly removed Abdou Mbow, an opposition deputy, from the chamber when he refused to relinquish the podium.

Justice Minister Moussa Sarr represented the government during the vote and defended four proposed amendments. All of these amendments were subsequently rejected by the majority bloc.

Opposition boycott and accusations

Opposition deputies accused National Assembly President Ousmane Sonko of violating parliamentary procedures, prompting their walkout. They condemned the constitutional reform proposed by Pastef as “a breach of trust.”

Aïssata Tall Sall, leader of the opposition parliamentary group, delivered a scathing statement following the vote:

“Mission accomplished. We wanted to expose to the world what’s happening in the National Assembly: a dictatorship, a breach of trust. Armed officers were deployed to remove a lawmaker exercising his fundamental right to speak. That’s exactly what we set out to demonstrate. Mission accomplished.”

Government vs. Pastef: institutional balance in dispute

Justice Minister Moussa Sarr argued that the reform undermined the constitutional balance between the presidency and the legislature, favoring the latter. He highlighted several contentious elements:

“This reform fundamentally alters our constitutional framework by disrupting institutional equilibrium: it expands the grounds for no-confidence motions to ten per legislative term while limiting presidential dissolution power to just one during a mandate. This creates a dangerous imbalance in our governance structure.”

Growing rift between President Faye and Assembly President Sonko

One of the key disagreements between the Pastef party and President Bassirou Diomaye Faye centers on the president’s recent announcement that he will no longer submit asset declarations at the end of his term—a reversal of earlier commitments. Ousmane Sonko, who also serves as Assembly President, expressed outrage:

“The Constitution belongs to all Senegalese, not just Bassirou Diomaye Faye. He cannot cherry-pick which commitments to honor. During our decade-long political struggle, we made these pledges together as a party. How can one individual unilaterally decide which parts of our shared vision to discard?”

While Sonko has called on President Faye to sign the reform into law, the president has instead proposed submitting the text to a national referendum. The reform has already sparked protests by opposition groups and civil society near the National Assembly on Monday morning.