By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Senegal’s Prime Minister says he would remain in office as head of the government and is not intending to preside over the country’s Parliament, after his party secured a landslide victory in an election that his political role is being questioned.
“I’m staying on at the prime minister’s office. I had come to submit my letter of resignation as an MP,” Ousmane Sonko said on Monday at the national assembly, shortly before the new set of lawmakers were due to join the Parliament.
His PASTEF party won 130 seats in the 165-seat national assembly in snap parliamentary elections on November 17.
“We have started work at the Prime Minister’s office. The President needs me by his side. We are continuing this work”, he added.
The victory was one of the largest majorities ever won by a single party in the West African nation and triggered speculation over whether Sonko should step down as prime minister to lead the national assembly in the interests of institutional balance.
Some had argued that Sonko should preside over the parliament to avoid any possible conflicts that could arise in an executive where the president owed his position to the prime minister.
Highly influential Sonko played a pivotal role in propelling President Bassirou Diomaye Faye to victory in March, and has headed the government since it took office in April.
The majority win at the National Assembly gives the Senegalese leaders opportunity to implement their ambitious reform agenda, as the country grapples with high inflation and widespread unemployment.
