Senegal: El Malick Ndiaye elected first vice-president after handing the chair to Sonko.

El Malick Ndiaye, who resigned from the presidency of the Senegalese National Assembly on May 24, 2026, to pave the way for Ousmane Sonko, has been elected first vice-president of the institution. This repositioning, which keeps him at the heart of the parliamentary structure of Pastef, occurs after a series of resignations within the Assembly’s bureau.

The sequence was rapid. Two days after Sonko was dismissed from the Prime Minister position by President Bassirou Diomaye Faye on May 22, El Malick Ndiaye announced his resignation from the presidency, a position he had held since December 2, 2024, following the large victory of Pastef in the early legislative elections with 134 votes out of 163 cast. This resignation immediately opened the way for Ousmane Sonko’s election as president of the National Assembly with 132 votes out of 165, making the Pastef leader the second most important figure in the state and granting him an institutional lever against President Faye.

Following Sonko’s election to the presidency, the acting first vice-president, Ismaïla Diallo, also resigned, leading to a reshuffle of the bureau. It is this vacant position that El Malick Ndiaye now occupies, regaining a place at the top of the institution he helped to reorganize in favor of his leader.

A Pastef Member from the Beginning

Born on July 24, 1982, in Dahra, in northern Senegal, El Malick Ndiaye has been a member of Pastef since 2015. He was appointed Minister of Infrastructure and Land and Air Transportation in April 2024 within the first government led by Ousmane Sonko, formed the day after the presidential election of Bassirou Diomaye Faye. In December 2024, he was elected president of the National Assembly after the early legislative elections, which were won by Pastef with a majority of 130 seats out of 165.

Within four weeks, the Pastef member thus held the presidency, ceded it to allow Sonko to take office, and then retrieved the position of first vice-president. This journey reflects the logic of internal repositioning within the majority party since the break between Ousmane Sonko and President Diomaye Faye, which was formalized on May 22 with the dismissal of the Prime Minister.

Pastef still controls 130 of the 165 seats in the National Assembly. Prime Minister Ahmadou Al Aminou Lô, appointed on May 25, must gain the confidence of the deputies within three months, otherwise the Assembly could file a motion of censure. President Faye cannot dissolve the chamber before November 2026.