President Bassirou Diomaye Faye dismissed Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko and dissolved the government of Senegal on Wednesday [1].
The move marks a significant rupture in the alliance between the two most powerful figures in the ruling party. This political split threatens the stability of the current administration as Faye asserts his executive authority over Sonko, the former prime minister and party leader [1, 2].
Sonko said his party is now in a "situation of cohabitation" [1]. The dismissal follows a period of intensifying tension between the president and the prime minister regarding the distribution of power within the state [2].
Faye has previously expressed a desire for a decentralized power structure. He said, "I want strong director-generals, strong ministers, a super-strong prime minister. I do not want to be the type of president who holds all the powers" [3]. However, the recent dissolution of the government contradicts this stated preference for a powerful prime ministerial role [2, 3].
This power struggle follows previous discussions regarding the country's legal framework. Faye held a press conference on April 4, 2025, to discuss constitutional reform [4]. The current rift suggests that those reforms, or the resulting political arrangements, failed to resolve the friction between the presidency and the party leadership.
By removing Sonko and the entire cabinet, Faye has effectively reset the government's leadership. This action signals a shift toward a more centralized presidency, a move that places him in direct opposition to the leadership of his own ruling party [1, 2].
“"in a situation of cohabitation"”
The split between Faye and Sonko represents a critical failure of the power-sharing agreement that likely underpinned their rise to power. By dissolving the government and removing Sonko, Faye is transitioning from a collaborative leadership model to a traditional strong-presidency model. This creates a precarious political environment where the ruling party may be divided between the head of state and its own organizational leader, potentially weakening the government's ability to implement its legislative agenda.
