Politics often serves as the foundation for alliances. Yet, former companions can quickly become present-day adversaries, especially when power, its prerogatives, and the ambitions it fuels strain relationships of trust. The unfolding dynamic between President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and his former Prime Minister, Ousmane Sonko, strikingly mirrors this age-old pattern. After navigating challenges together, the two figures now find themselves in a complex arrangement where every move is scrutinized, every statement interpreted, and every decision weighed against the possibility of a direct confrontation.
The recent convocation of an extraordinary session of the National Assembly thus occurs within an exceptionally tense political atmosphere. The parliamentary majority, aligned with Pastef, represents a significant political force. Its engagement with the executive branch inevitably prompts a fundamental inquiry: to what extent can parliamentary power assert itself when it aims to influence the President’s decisions?
Legality versus legitimacy
This is where the real unease begins. The line between legality and legitimacy can become perilously thin. A majority may be perfectly justified, legally, in exercising its prerogatives. However, the lawful exercise of power must never lead to undermining institutional equilibrium.
Even less should it permanently entrench the country in a cycle of institutional confrontation. Senegal does not require another high-level duel. It needs stability, clarity, and institutions robust enough to transcend personal disputes.
Indeed, beyond the ongoing narrative involving Diomaye and Sonko, it is the very Republic that stands at stake. The most concerning outcome would be for political competition to ultimately overshadow the national interest.
President Bassirou Diomaye Faye was elected by universal suffrage for a five-year term. He still has three years remaining to fulfill the mandate entrusted to him by the Senegalese people. This democratic reality should impose a simple principle on all, both the majority and the opposition: one can challenge, criticize, oversee, and even oppose, but without transforming institutions into battlegrounds.
Risks of a permanent political crisis
The current episode must therefore be viewed with gravity. It is not merely about who will prevail in this latest power struggle. Crucially, it is about preventing the nation from falling into a permanent political crisis, where each institution seeks to dominate the other.
Political friendships may fade. Alliances can dissolve. Ambitions may clash. But the Republic must endure. This is why the urgent priority may no longer be finding an understanding between two men, but rather safeguarding the Republic from divergent quarrels.
Diomaye and Sonko may pursue distinct political paths. They may even engage in a power struggle. However, their disagreements must never become those of the State, nor should they jeopardize the three years of mandate remaining for the elected President.
Senegal deserves more than another chapter in the graveyard of political friendships. It deserves legality to remain at the service of popular legitimacy, and for institutions to stand stronger than individuals.