Senegal's National Assembly sees high tension over constitutional review

According to the Minister of Justice, President Bassirou Diomaye Faye intends to submit the constitutional reform to a popular referendum after parliamentary review, an option allowed by the Senegalese Constitution. Debates were marked by incidents, including the expulsion of Deputy Abdou Mbow from the chamber following a dispute over speaking time. Security forces intervened at the request of the session chair, Ousmane Sonko.

Following this, the president of the Takku Wallu Senegal parliamentary group, Me Aïssata Tall Sall, and several opposition deputies left the plenary session, denouncing the conditions of the text's examination and questioning the process's legitimacy. Concurrently, the AGIR party reported the arrest of its president, Thierno Bocoum, and two activists near the National Assembly, calling these arrests arbitrary and demanding their release. These events highlight the strong polarization surrounding the constitutional reform, with both the majority and opposition disagreeing on the text's substance and its review procedures.

The announced referendum could shift the debate from Parliament to the broader Senegalese electorate.