Senegalese parliament rejects proposal to amend constitution

The main opposition party announces that it will present a motion of censure against the Government

September 3 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Senegal’s parliament, controlled by the opposition party Benoo Bokk Yakaar (BBY), has rejected a proposal to amend the constitution in a narrow vote that has led the party to announce that it will present a motion of no confidence against the government, headed by Ousmane Sonko, on Tuesday.

The vote in the National Assembly on the bill, which envisaged the elimination of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE) and the High Council of Territorial Collectivities (HCCT), ended with 83 votes against and 80 votes in favour, in line with the decision taken over the weekend by a parliamentary committee.

The initiative was put forward by Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who called an extraordinary meeting to vote on the proposal, as part of his stated efforts to rationalise spending and reform public management in the African country, according to Senegalese state news agency APS.

Faye recently argued that “the proposal is part of the strengthening of constitutional reforms, the continuous improvement of the decision-making process of public authorities and the systematic rationalisation of the responsibilities of the State.”

The proposal to eliminate these two bodies was one of Faye’s campaign promises and the rejection of it has been criticised by Amadou Ba, of the Yewwi Askan Wi (YAW) coalition, which supports the president and has accused the opposition of maintaining a “dilatory” stance in order “not to sacrifice political clientelism”, as reported by Radio France Internationale.

Following the vote, the head of the BBY bloc in parliament, Abdou Mbow, said he would table a motion of no confidence in an attempt to topple the government, led by Ousmane Sonko, a prominent opponent of now ex-president Macky Sall and an ally of Faye, who belongs to the same party.

Mbow has argued that the aim is to topple the Executive because “a Government led by an incompetent cannot continue to lead the country.” He has also maintained that the proposed amendment to the Constitution represents “a violation” of the Magna Carta by the Prime Minister himself.

“The Prime Minister did not want to make a statement on general political lines. He did not want the institutions that we represent to be respected,” he stressed, in what could lead to another political crisis in the African country, which held presidential elections in March.