Senegal’s former ruling parties work together before a quick election for the legislature

Macky Sall and Abdoulaye Wade’s previous ruling parties have joined forces for a quick election of lawmakers on November 17. This could be a big problem for President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who was just elected.

The union for the Republic (APR) party of Sall and Wade’s Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) announced their surprise union on Sunday. Together, they held 106 of the 165 seats in the national assembly that just ended.

Since he was elected, Faye and Ousmane Sonko, the fiery prime minister, have started to audit the former government’s finances, banned some former officials from traveling, and put mostly party members in key roles, which has caused problems with some former allies.

The move by APR and PDS could make it harder for Faye’s Pastef party to get a majority and make it harder for him to make the changes he promised. In turn, that could make Senegal’s government situation even less stable and cause trouble.

Faye, who took office in April after a huge win in the election, got rid of the house on September 12, two years into its five-year term. He said it was hard to work with the assembly because the opposition wouldn’t pass bills from the government.

They said in a statement that their alliance would be open to allies and other political parties to make sure they get a big win in the legislative vote. The PDS backed Faye against the APR candidate for president.

The APR said in a separate statement that Idrissa Seck, who has been prime minister before and has run for president several times, would also join the party.

In the legislative election of 2022, the Pastef party ran as part of the opposition Yewwi Askan Wi alliance, which won 56 seats. In the next poll, it will run under its own name.