The speaker of Senegal's parliament El Malick Ndiaye said Sunday he was resigning, two days after his close ally Ousmane Sonko was fired as prime minister, deepening a political crisis in the debt-laden West African country.
In a Facebook post, Ndiaye described his decision to step down as a “personal choice guided above all by my understanding of institutions, public responsibility, and the best interests of the nation.”
Ndiaye's clears the way for Sonko to run for the post of head of parliament, where his Pastef party holds a strong majority, in a challenge to President Bassirou Diomaye Faye.
Deputies have been summoned to a full session of the assembly on Tuesday morning to reinstate Sonko as a member of parliament and vote for a new speaker, said an official document published late Sunday.
That could further complicate reform efforts by Faye, who sacked his former ally Sonko on Friday after months of tensions.
