Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, at the podium, and his prime minister, Ousmane Sonko, during a ceremony at the presidential palace in Dakar, on October 16, 2025. PATRICK MEINHARDT/AFP
The last lingering doubts have now been dispelled: Senegal's ruling coalition is experiencing its first political crisis. In recent days, a rift has opened between President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, leader of the Patriotes Africains du Sénégal pour le Travail, l'Éthique et la Fraternité (PASTEF, African Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics and Fraternity), their shared party.
"The battle for the 2029 presidential election has begun. This is just the trailer," said a person in the president's inner circle, speaking on condition of anonymity. And each side is preparing for the fight: While Faye has focused on tightening his grip on the "Diomaye Président" coalition – the alliance of parties that backed him in the 2024 presidential election – Sonko has been rallying PASTEF's grassroots activists.
On November 8 in Dakar, the prime minister held a rally that looked like a show of strength. Up to 100,000 people from across the country reportedly attended to hear the founder of PASTEF, a nationalist and pan-Africanist, promise a complete break with the development model championed by previous governments.
