Ousmane Sonko

Ousmane Sonko (born July 15, 1974, Thiès, Senegal) is a Senegalese politician and former prime minister (2024–26) who has served as president of Senegal’s National Assembly since May 2026. He is also the founder and leader of the African Patriots of Senegal for Labor, Ethics and Fraternity (Patriotes Africains du Sénégal pour le Travail, l’Éthique et la Fraternité; PASTEF) political party. Known for his strong stance against corruption, Sonko gained prominence as an opposition leader before being appointed prime minister. He has previously served in the National Assembly and as mayor of Ziguinchor.

Childhood, education, and early career

Sonko spent his childhood in the towns of Sébikotane, near the country’s capital of Dakar, and Bignona, in the southern Casamance region. He received a baccalaureate degree (1993) in Casamance before completing a master’s degree in public law at Gaston Berger University (1999) in Saint-Louis. He then attended the National School of Administration of Senegal, in Dakar, where he trained to be a tax inspector. Sonko is a devout Muslim.

While working as a tax inspector, Sonko became a high-ranking member of Senegal’s civil service and met Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who would become a close ally. In 2005 Sonko established a trade union, the Autonomous Union of Tax and Domain Agents, which he led until 2012. In 2016, however, Sonko was fired from his work as a tax inspector after having accused Aliou Sall—a high-ranking official and the brother of Senegal’s president, Macky Sall—of tax fraud.

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Political rise

In 2014 Sonko formed a political party, PASTEF, and in the run-up to the July 2017 legislative elections, he created the Ndawi Askan Wi coalition with PASTEF and other parties. He was the only member of the coalition to win a seat in the National Assembly. There he soon gained a reputation as a strong opposition leader and a voice against political corruption. Sonko’s vocal resistance to the current government and to French intervention in Senegal, as well as his attention to Senegal’s large youth population, garnered support from those frustrated with the incumbency. Many Senegalese supported Sonko with such fervor that they coined a trend: “Sonkomania.”

Sonko was a candidate in the 2019 presidential election; at age 44, he was the youngest candidate in the race. Though the incumbent, Sall, was ultimately reelected, Sonko earned about 16 percent of the vote, placing third and retaining a strong supporter base.

In advance of elections scheduled to be held in 2022 and 2024, Sonko’s PASTEF formed a new coalition, Yewwi Askan Wi (YAW), with other opposition parties to challenge Sall’s Benno Bokk Yakaar (BBY) ruling coalition. In January 2022 Sonko was elected mayor of Ziguinchor; his victory was part of YAW’s electoral successes in the municipal and regional elections held that month. Sonko intended to be a candidate in the legislative elections scheduled for later that year, but he and other coalition members were disqualified because of a technical error. Still YAW performed well in the July legislative elections, winning one-third of the seats in the National Assembly and finishing second to BBY.

Legal challenges

Meanwhile, legal charges were brought against Sonko in February 2021 that accused him of rape and of leveling death threats against the person who accused him, a young massage therapist. Sonko maintained that the charges were false and were intended to sabotage his political career, and his supporters agreed. In March, as Sonko made his way to court to face the charges, he was arrested for disturbing public order after supporters rallied around him; his arrest sparked days of protests that resulted in the deaths of at least 14 people. Sonko called for the protests to be even larger, though peaceful. In late May 2023, as the expected date of the verdict drew near, he organized a “freedom caravan” of his supporters, from Ziguinchor to Dakar. The caravan was halted by police, and Sonko was put under house arrest. On June 1 Sonko was acquitted of the charges of rape and death threats, but he was convicted on a charge of “corrupting youth”—having acted immorally toward an individual younger than 21 years—and was sentenced to two years in jail. News of his sentencing sparked violent protests that killed at least 16 people.

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Sonko remained under house arrest until late July, when he was arrested and imprisoned under new charges, which included having fomented insurrection and undermined state security pertaining to the violent protests of March 2021 and June 2023. Days later the government also announced the dissolution of PASTEF for the same reasons.

While his rape trial was underway, Sonko was hit with another legal complaint: The minister of tourism, Mame Mbaye Niang, accused him of defamation after Sonko alleged Niang had misused public funds. That trial, which was to begin in February 2023, concluded the next month with a guilty verdict for Sonko, who received a two-month suspended sentence and was ordered to pay a fine to Niang. In May an appeals court increased the suspended sentence to six months. Sonko appealed to the Supreme Court, which in January 2024 upheld the verdict and sentence. An additional appeal by Sonko to overturn his conviction and to have his case heard by the Constitutional Council was rejected by the Supreme Court in July 2025. Sonko and his supporters have denounced all of the cases against him as being politically motivated.

2024 presidential election

In spite of the numerous setbacks, Sonko and PASTEF prepared for the 2024 presidential election. Many expected that Sonko would not be allowed to run, and PASTEF selected Faye, the party’s secretary-general, as its alternate candidate. Faye, like Sonko, was also in prison, though, unlike Sonko, he had not been convicted of anything. Given the party’s dissolution the previous year, whoever PASTEF’s candidate was would have to run as an independent.

Sonko was indeed disqualified by the Constitutional Council in January 2024, but Faye’s candidacy was approved. Both Faye and Sonko were still in prison, however, and were not released until little more than a week before the March 24 election under the terms of an amnesty act. The two began campaigning together with the slogan “Diomaye mooy Sonko” (Wolof: “Diomaye is Sonko”), allowing Faye to bolster his platform messages of anti-corruption and economic reform with the benefit of Sonkomania.

Faye was elected president and was inaugurated in early April; he immediately appointed Sonko prime minister. “We’ll spare no efforts to reach the objectives we have promised to the Senegalese people, which is a break with the past, progress, and a definitive change,” Sonko said. He took office on April 8.

Prime minister

During the early months of Sonko’s tenure as prime minister, an audit of the previous administration’s finances was conducted. The findings uncovered a much higher level of debt and a larger budget deficit than had previously been reported and led the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to suspend its support package for the country in October. Sonko accused the previous administration, led by Sall, of having manipulated the economic data.

Attempts by Sonko and Faye to enact their legislative agenda met resistance in the National Assembly, where Sall’s BBY coalition still held about half of the seats; PASTEF and allied YAW parties held about one-third. (The 2023 order dissolving PASTEF had been repealed by the Sall administration three days after the presidential election.) Faye dissolved the legislature in September 2024 and called snap elections, which were held on November 17. PASTEF alone won more than three-quarters of the body’s seats, providing Sonko and Faye with a smoother path for their legislative goals.

By mid-2025 there were hints of tension between Sonko and Faye, which became more apparent by the end of the year. The two had differences of opinion on such matters as leadership of a political coalition and how to manage the country’s financial difficulties, with Sonko adamantly against Senegal restructuring its debt. Sonko also indicated that he thought Faye should have done more to defend him in his legal battles. In early March 2026 Sonko declared that he was willing to leave the government, taking PASTEF’s support with him, and return to the opposition if Faye did not adhere to what Sonko thought was the party’s vision. Faye later declared that Sonko would remain prime minister only so long as he had Faye’s confidence.

Meanwhile, Sonko and Faye worked together to fulfill a PASTEF campaign promise in March with the enactment of a harsh revision to the penal code that targeted homosexual activity. When the legislation was presented in the National Assembly during the previous month, Sonko implored lawmakers to support it when it came up for a vote. The bill was passed in March, and Faye signed it into law at the end of the month. Though rights groups raised alarm over the changes, the revisions appeared to have widespread support among the Senegalese population.

Sonko’s prospects for standing in future presidential elections improved in May, when changes were made to several aspects of the electoral code, including those which had impeded his candidacy in 2024. The National Assembly had passed the legislation in late April and Faye, after having sent it back to the legislature for a second reading, signed it in mid-May.

Despite the recent legislative successes, tension between Sonko and the president persisted. On May 22, 2026, Faye dismissed Sonko as prime minister and dissolved the government. The handover ceremony between Sonko and his successor, Ahmadou Al Aminou Lo, took place on May 29.

President of the National Assembly

Sonko still had wide support in PASTEF, the largest political party in the National Assembly, and he was elected president of the legislative body on May 26. Analysts noted that with his new role, Sonko would potentially be able to obstruct Faye’s agenda. In early June Sonko declared that PASTEF would not participate in the new government, although several party members did accept positions in it. That same month, he was reelected as leader of PASTEF at the party’s congress, affirming his support within the party. At the end of June, the PASTEF-dominated National Assembly passed a contentious constitutional reform bill that, if implemented, would expand that body’s powers while limiting those of the president. In response, Faye announced that a national referendum on the proposed changes would be held.