Senegal’s Constitutional Council has thrown out a legal challenge against Ousmane Sonko’s return to parliament. The court ruled on Wednesday that it lacks the jurisdiction to even examine the case.
The decision, numbered 5/C/2026, was reported by Senegalese newspaper Le Soleil. Judges said reviewing the legality of an administrative act fell outside their remit entirely.
Eighteen opposition deputies brought the case. Led by lawmaker Tafsir Thioye, they filed their petition on 1 June, according to Seneweb. The opposition argued that Sonko’s return to parliament violated constitutional procedures and should be overturned.
The group, drawn from non-aligned MPs and the Takku Wallu coalition, wanted Sonko’s return to parliament declared unconstitutional. Their target was a National Assembly Bureau decision dated 24 May, which had restored his parliamentary seat.
That seat had opened up days earlier, after President Bassirou Diomaye Faye dismissed Sonko as prime minister. His allies in parliament moved quickly once the speakership became vacant.
Two days after the Bureau’s decision, on 26 May, lawmakers elected Sonko president of the National Assembly. He won 132 of 133 votes cast, after opposition members boycotted the session, broadcaster SENTV reported.
His party, Pastef, controls 130 of the assembly’s 165 seats. That majority made Sonko’s return to parliament almost certain to end in the speakership once his seat was restored.
The Constitutional Council explained its reasoning at length. Citing news site Afrique Sur 7, judges said their power over elections ends once final results are formally proclaimed, under Article 92 of the constitution.
Results from November’s snap legislative election were finalised back in 2024. The council said the Bureau’s decision came long after that point, with no direct bearing on the vote itself.
Sonko supporters have always maintained that Sonko’s return to parliament followed the rules of the National Assembly.
In its ruling, the court stated plainly that it was “incompetent to examine the contested decision.” Senego, which carried that line, reported the council closed the door on reviewing the case any further.
The Constitutional court’s decision effectively confirms Sonko’s return to parliament as legally uncontested.
Mali-based outlet Mali24, citing Senegalese platform Senejet, said judges saw no link between the contested act and the regularity of an earlier election. The dispute, they concluded, simply fell outside the council’s remit.
Interim council president Aminata Ly Ndiaye presided over the sitting. She was joined by four fellow judges, Le Soleil reported.
Opposition lawmakers had also raised separate complaints about document access. Senegalese outlet Laviesenegalaise reported they needed a bailiff just to request basic paperwork from the National Assembly.
They accused the institution’s secretary general and first vice president of refusing to cooperate. Those complaints, however, played no part in the council’s reasoning on Sonko’s return to parliament.
Opposition coalition leader Aissata Tall Sall had earlier branded the reinstatement an “institutional coup.” She argued Sonko should have resigned his ministerial post before reclaiming his parliamentary seat.
Sonko himself was barred from the 2024 presidential race over a defamation conviction. He became Faye’s mentor figure before Faye, once elected, appointed him prime minister that April.
The two men later fell out over how to manage Senegal’s debt, which stands at more than double the size of the economy. An earlier IMF support programme had already been suspended over a funding dispute.
Faye has since named economist Ahmadou Al Aminou Lo as the country’s new prime minister. The appointment came just a day before Sonko’s election as speaker.
The council’s ruling leaves Sonko’s return to parliament fully intact. SENTV described the outcome as a procedural defeat for the opposition, which had hoped the court would settle the legality of his reinstatement once and for all.
The decision will be published in Senegal’s Journal Officiel, with no further appeal available. For now, Sonko’s return to parliament stands unchallenged, even as his rivalry with Faye over the country’s debt burden and stalled reforms continues to simmer.
