Dakar - Senegal’s parliament has rejected a draft revision of the constitution put forward by the country’s new leaders and seen as paving the way for the dissolution of the opposition-dominated chamber.
Lawmakers narrowly opposed the plan to suppress two consultative bodies by three votes after a heated debate late on Monday and broadcast on social media.
President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who was elected in March, and his Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko do not have a majority in the national assembly.
The legislature was elected in 2022 and supporters of ex-president Macky Sall still hold sway.
The new leaders need a parliamentary majority to implement the policies of change they promised on a platform of leftist pan-Africanism and social justice.
The national assembly cannot be dissolved by the president until it has sat for at least two years.
According to press reports, Faye will be able to do that from September 12 -- exactly 24 months after the parliament’s first post-election session. Sonko has not so far given a speech on general policy to parliament. Presenting a draft constitutional revision that was likely to be voted down was widely viewed as a precursor to dissolving the national assembly.
The revision outlined the dissolution of the High Council of Local Authorities and the Economic, Social and Environmental Council. Faye and Sonko have pledged their abolition.
Justice Minister Ousma Diagne has previously in a speech to lawmakers called for public funds to be better used. The President “acknowledges” the parliament’s decision to reject the constitutional revision, Faye’s office said in a statement.
It added that the parliamentary vote demonstrated “the profound rift between the deputies of the majority and the popular aspirations that were massively expressed during the presidential election” in March.
The presidency reiterated its pledge to “transform public governance” and “rationalise public spending”. The coalition of the former president has accused the new leaders of seeking a pretext to call new legislative elections.
One of its members, Abdou Mbow, says a motion of censure will be lodged against the new government.