Senegal: Bassirou Diomaye Faye announces the creation of his own party and turns the page on Pastef.

Meeting on Friday with several dozen mayors from various local governments, the head of state “officialized the creation of his party” and presented this new structure as the foundation for his political action, according to local media. This announcement comes after months of rising tensions with Mr. Sonko, now President of the National Assembly, regarding the administration and the strategy of the majority coalition.

Long seen as Mr. Sonko’s deputy and comrade in struggle within Pastef, dissolved by authorities in 2023, Bassirou Diomaye Faye had already made several moves to distance himself since his election to the presidency in March 2024. He had left the party’s leadership bodies and sought to assert his own leadership within the “Diomaye President” coalition.

According to Senegalese press, the new formation, whose name and leadership bodies were not immediately made public, is expected to gather support for the head of state beyond the militant core of Pastef. The presence of many local elected officials at the Palace is seen as a sign of a desire for territorial anchoring and the structuring of a broader presidential bloc.

This decision could profoundly reshape the political balances within the majority and the so-called “patriotic” camp. It also raises questions about Mr. Sonko’s future role, a central figure of the anti-establishment opposition during Macky Sall’s era, now at the helm of the Assembly but weakened by the institutional rise of his former second-in-command.

For now, neither Pastef nor the presidency had officially reacted to the announcements reported by local media on Friday evening. The ideological and organizational outlines of the new party are expected to be clarified in the coming weeks, as the Faye administration prepares several major institutional reforms and a referendum on the Constitution contested by parts of the parliamentary majority dominated by Mr. Sonko’s allies.