The speaker of Senegal’s parliament said Sunday he was resigning, two days after his close ally was fired as prime minister, deepening a political crisis in the debt-laden West African country.

The move by speaker El Malick Ndiaye clears the way for sacked premier Ousmane Sonko to run for the post of head of parliament, where his Pastef party holds a strong majority, in a challenge to President Bassirou Diomaye Faye.

Deputies have been summoned to a full session of the assembly on Tuesday morning to reinstate Sonko as a member of parliament and vote for a new speaker, said an official document published late Sunday.

That could further complicate reform efforts by Faye, who sacked his former ally Sonko on Friday after months of tensions.

Faye owed his presidency in large part to Sonko, who would almost certainly have taken the top job had he not been barred from running in the last presidential election due to a defamation conviction.

Their Pastef party comfortably won the 2024 elections on a promise of a profound political shake-up, vowing to fight corruption and inheriting an economy mired in debt.

Sonko had generated a passionate following among Senegal’s disaffected youth ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Despite Sonko’s popular appeal however, Faye held all the real power as president.

But in recent months, relations had soured between Faye and his one-time mentor. And as the discord between the president and prime minister became increasingly public, their governing alliance crumbled.

Sonko had become vocal in his criticism of his former protégé, accusing Faye of a “failure of leadership” for not backing him against his critics.

He also regularly denounced what he said was the slow pace of legal action for corruption against senior figures in the previous government of former president Macky Sall.

The two also disagreed on the crucial question of how to tackle Senegal’s high debt.

A difficult cohabitation

Hours after Sonko’s dismissal, hundreds of his supporters gathered outside his Dakar home to show their support for him – and it is Sonko who is the uncontested leader of Pastef, with its large parliamentary majority.

Sonko’s departure as premier raised the question of how Faye can govern the country when he cannot be assured of the support of the ruling party.

“One can imagine that it is going to be complicated to cohabit with this majority of the Pastef party in the Assembly,” said Babacar Ndiaye, research director of the West African Think Tank (WATHI).

Faye has to name another prime minister to replace Sonko – and that choice will have to be approved by parliament within three months of his nomination, said Ndiaye.

“If the deputies decide to table a motion of censure or no confidence, they are capable of doing so,” he added.

The president cannot dissolve parliament itself until November – two years after the last parliamentary election.

And a reform of the electoral code approved by parliament a few weeks ago means that Sonko is now eligible to run for the presidency.

That raises the possibility that the two former political allies might at some point run against each other for the top job.

Source: AFP

President Bassirou Diomaye Faye has officially ended the functions of Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, according to a decree read on national television by the Secretary General of the Presidency.

The announcement, made on Friday evening, brings an immediate end to Sonko’s role as head of government, with the rest of the cabinet expected to continue in a caretaker capacity until a new Prime Minister is appointed.

No official reason was provided at the time of the announcement, although the decision comes after months of growing political tension between the two leaders, who were once close allies and central figures in Senegal’s ruling political movement.

‎The dismissal marks one of the most significant political developments since the pair led the 2024 electoral victory that brought President Faye to power.

Government sources indicate that consultations are expected to begin shortly for the formation of a new cabinet.

Shortly after the announcement, Ousmane Sonko reacted on his official Facebook page, writing:

« Alhamdoulillah. Ce soir je dormirai le cœur léger à la cité Keur Gorgui »

The statement, widely shared online, was interpreted as a calm and reflective response to his dismissal.

Further developments are expected in the coming hours, particularly regarding the appointment of a new Prime Minister.‎

Source: Lebledparle.com

Voting began Thursday in Uganda’s presidential election despite a days-long internet shutdown that has been criticised as an anti-democratic tactic in a country where the president has held office since 1986.

Crowds gathered and long lines formed in some areas as polling station openings were delayed and voting materials were seen being delivered after the scheduled 7am opening time.

President Yoweri Museveni, 81, faces seven other candidates, including Robert Kyagulanyi, a musician-turned-politician best known as Bobi Wine, who is calling for political change.

The East African country of roughly 45 million people has 21.6 million registered voters.

Polls are expected to close at 4pm Thursday, according to the electoral commission. Results are constitutionally required to be announced in 48 hours.

Impatient crowds gathered outside polling stations expressing concerns over the delays Thursday morning. Umaru Mutyaba, a polling agent for a parliamentary candidate, said it was “frustrating” to be waiting outside a station in the capital Kampala.

“We can’t be standing here waiting to vote as if we have nothing else to do,” he said.

There have been concerns about transparency, the possibility of hereditary rule, military interference and opposition strategies to prevent vote tampering at polling stations.

Uganda’s internet was shut down Tuesday by the government communications agency, which cited misinformation, electoral fraud and incitement of violence. The shutdown has affected the public and disrupted critical sectors such as banking.

There has been heavy security leading up to voting, including military units deployed on the streets this week.

Amnesty International said security forces are engaging in a “brutal campaign of repression”, citing a November 28 opposition rally in eastern Uganda where the military blocked exits and opened fire on supporters, killing one person.

Museveni urged voters to come out in large numbers during his final rally Tuesday.

“You go and vote, anybody who tries to interfere with your freedom will be crushed. I am telling you this. We are ready to put an end to this indiscipline,” he said.

The national electoral commission chairperson, Simon Byabakama, urged tolerance among Ugandans as they vote.

“Let us keep the peace that we have,” Byabakama said late Wednesday. “Let us be civil. Let us be courteous. Let’s be tolerant. Even if you know that this person does not support (your) candidate, please give him or her room or opportunity to go and exercise his or her constitutional right.”

Authorities also suspended the activities of several civic groups during the campaign season. That Group, a prominent media watchdog, closed its office Wednesday after the interior ministry alleged in a letter that the group was involved in activities “prejudicial to the security and laws of Uganda”.

Veteran opposition figure Kizza Besigye, a four-time presidential candidate, remains in prison after he was charged with treason in February 2025.

Source: AP

Guinea’s junta chief Gen Mamady Doumbouya has won the presidential election by a landslide, getting 86.7% of the vote, according to provisional results published by the election commission.

The general is hoping to legitimise his rule after seizing power in a coup in 2021.

A civil society group calling for the return of civilian rule has condemned the election as a “charade” after Gen Doumbouya’s main rivals were barred from contesting, while opposition candidates said the poll was marred by irregularities.

The Democratic Front of Guinea’s flagbearer, Abdoulaye Yero Balde, came a distant second with 6.6%, followed by the Liberal Bloc’s Faya Lansana Millimono with 2%, provisional results show.

On Monday, internet monitoring group NetBlocks reported that access to social media platforms TikTok, YouTube and Facebook had been restricted as Guineans waited for the full results.

There has been no official comment on the restrictions, but opponents see it as an attempt by the junta to stifle criticism of the results.

The 41-year-old general’s victory gives him a seven-year mandate. Should the results be challenged, the Supreme Court has eight days to validate them.

Millimono said on Monday that the election was marred by “systematic fraudulent practices”, citing the expulsion of poll observers, ballot stuffing and intimidation.

The ruling party and the government have yet to comment on the complaints.

After overthrowing then-83-year-old President Alpha Condé in 2021, Gen Doumbouya promised not to seek election and to hand power to a civilian.

“Neither I nor any member of this transition will be a candidate for anything… As soldiers, we value our word very much,” he said at the time.

The junta leader broke his promise by putting his name on the ballot after a new constitution, implemented in September, permitted him to run for office.

Djenabou Toure, the country’s top election official who announced the provisional results, put the voter turnout at more than 80%.

However, a civil society group, the National Front for the Defence of the Constitution, said in a statement on Monday that the turnout was low.

“A huge majority of Guineans chose to boycott the electoral charade,” the National Front for the Defence of the Constitution was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

Eight other candidates took part in Sunday’s election, but with the exclusion of main opposition parties RPG Arc en Ciel and UFDG, none of the participants have a solid political footing.

According to the provisional results, six of them got less than 2% of the vote, with Mohamed Nabe getting 0.8%.

Although he is popular with many of Guinea’s youth, Gen Doumbouya has been criticised for restricting opposition activities, banning protests and stifling press freedom in the run-up to the elections.

The general justified deposing Condé on similar charges – including rampant corruption, disregard for human rights and economic mismanagement.

Guinea has the world’s largest bauxite reserves and some of its richest iron ore. Last month, authorities launched the gigantic Simandou iron-ore mine to widespread anticipation.

However, over half of the population lives in poverty, according to World Bank figures.

Source: BBC

Malawi’s former President Peter Mutharika has been declared the winner of last week’s elections, in a huge comeback for the 85-year-old.

Official results show that he won 57% of the vote, compared to the 33% of President Lazarus Chakwera, 70.

Chakwera, a pastor before entering politics, conceded defeat ahead of the final result being declared, phoning Mutharika to congratulate him on his “historic win”.

Mutharika, a former professor of law, served as president from 2014 to 2020, when he lost to Chakwera by a wide margin.

He inherits an economy that is in deep crisis, with a severe shortage of fuel and foreign currency in the poor southern African state.

The official inflation rate is close to 30%, with a frozen chicken in a supermarket in the capital, Lilongwe, costing about $20 (£15), in a nation where most people live on $2 a day or less.

Mutharika is due to address the nation later on Thursday.

The election commission said it took the full eight days it was allowed to announce the result because it wanted to check everything carefully and address the complaints first.

The 2019 election, also won by Mutharika, was annulled by the country’s highest court, which found there had been widespread irregularities, including the use of correction fluid to alter results.

Chakwera won the rerun by a huge margin the following year.

This was the pair’s fourth electoral duel.

Mutharika’s older brother Bingu also served as president and died in office in 2012.

Source: BBC

Ivory Coast’s former First Lady Simone Gbagbo, 76, is the surprise inclusion in a list of five candidates who have been officially cleared to contest next month’s presidential election.

She will run against President Alassane Ouattara, 83, who took power after she and her former husband, Laurent Gbagbo, were captured in a presidential bunker during the conflict that hit the country after the 2010 election.

But the ex-president has been barred from contesting the poll, along with ex-Prime Minister Pascal Affi N’Guessan and ex-Credit Suisse bank CEO Tidjane Thiam.

Their disqualification has raised concerns about the legitimacy of the 25 October vote and has sparked fears of instability.

Thiam, who was disqualified by the Constitutional Council due to his previous French citizenship, called the decision “an act of democratic vandalism” and accused the Ouattara administration of orchestrating a “sham election” to cling to power.

Ouattara assumed the presidency in 2011, following Laurent Gbagbo’s arrest after his refusal to accept defeat in the 2010 election.

Ouattara was originally restricted to serving two terms, but a 2016 constitutional overhaul allowed him to seek re-election in 2020, in a vote that was boycotted by the opposition.

He won that election in a landslide, with at least 85 people killed in ensuing unrest. He later declared that he would run for a fourth term.

Laurent Gbagbo has been barred by the Constitutional Council from running for president because of a 2018 criminal conviction.

He was sentenced in absentia for looting the central bank during the political crisis that hit Ivory Coast after the 2010 election.

Although he received a presidential pardon in 2020, it did not restore his right to vote or run for office.

He also faced separate charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court (ICC), but he was acquitted.

For Simone Gbagbo, her candidacy is not only politically significant but symbolically powerful in a country where women remain largely underrepresented in national leadership.

Only 30% of Ivorian parliamentarians are women, and few have held senior roles in government.

Once nicknamed “The Iron Lady”, Simone Gbagbo is now poised to become the strongest female contender for the presidency in Ivory Coast’s history.

She and ex-minister Henriette Lagou Adjoua, representing the Political Partners for Peace coalition, are the two women whose candidacy was approved by the Constitutional Council.

Simone Gbagbo has had a long and active career in Ivorian politics, including as an MP – which was later overshadowed by her role in the violence that followed the 2010 elections in which more than 3,000 people died.

It led to her being sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2015 by a court in Ivory Coast.

She was however granted amnesty three years later by President Ouattara to foster reconciliation. Unlike her former husband, the conviction did not lead to her removal from the voter register.

The ICC had also pursued charges against her in 2012, but they were dropped about nine years later.

Since then, she has been quietly and methodically rebuilding her political base, following her break from the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) – the party she co-founded with her former husband, ex-President Gbagbo.

Her campaign slogan is a call to “build a new nation” within “a sovereign, dignified, and prosperous Africa.”

“Her approval legitimises the idea that Ivorian women can aspire to the highest office, regardless of their past, age, or gender. She’s not just a candidate – she’s a symbol,” said local political analyst Severin Yao Kouamés.

It is unclear if Laurent Gbagbo, now disqualified from the election, will support his ex-wife.

The two were married for more than 30 years, sharing a life of political militancy, imprisonment, and governance. They divorced in 2023.

The official election campaign begins on 10 October.

The country has 8.7 million registered voters and there are fears that the exclusion of some of the other candidates could erode public trust and trigger renewed unrest.

Still all eyes will be on whether Simone Gbagbo can reshape the leadership narrative, and become the president.

Source: BBC

Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara said Tuesday he will seek a fourth term in Ivory Coast’s October 25 election, as tensions rise over the exclusion of many heavyweight opposition candidates.

He had been earlier officially nominated by the ruling Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP) party as its candidate, but had not yet said if he would contest.

“I am a candidate because the constitution of our country allows me to run for another term and my health permits it,” the 83-year-old said, adding that the world’s top cocoa producer was “facing unprecedented security, economic, and monetary challenges, the management of which requires experience”.

The 83-year-old president declared his plan in a televised announcement. He won a third term in 2020 after he initially said he wasn’t going to run again. However, he changed his position following the death of his hand-picked successor, Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly.

The opposition has accused the authorities of choosing their opponents by legal means, but the government insists the judiciary acts independently.

The two main opposition parties have launched a joint campaign to demand the reinstatement of their barred leaders ahead of the presidential election.

This alliance brings together the African People’s Party of Ivory Coast (PPACI) – led by former president Laurent Gbagbo – and the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI), the country’s largest opposition force, headed by former international banker Tidjane Thiam.

Thiame has already been barred from running by a court because he has dual citizenship.

Ouattara’s candidacy is contested after he reset the presidential term limit in a constitutional change.

Source: Reuters

A new constitution that has allowed Togo’s long-time head of state Faure Gnassingbé to shift to a new role as all-powerful prime minister – and escape the constraint of presidential term limits – has triggered anger on the streets of the capital, Lomé. Protests are set to continue this Friday.

At least five demonstrators have died while confronting official security forces in recent weeks.

But it is not the orthodox political opposition – predictably crushed in local elections last week – that has mobilised frustrated young Togolese people.

Instead it is musicians, bloggers and activists who have tapped into popular anger and weariness with a regime that has been in power – under the leadership of Faure Gnassingbé or, before him – his father Gnassingbé Éyadéma, for almost six decades.

That outstrips even Cameroon’s 92-year old President Paul Biya – who has just confirmed his intention to stand for an eighth successive term in elections later this year – or Gabon’s father-and-son presidents, Omar Bongo and Ali Bongo, latter of whom was deposed in a coup in August 2023.

The lessons of that episode did not escape Faure Gnassingbé, a shrewd and often discreet operator who quickly moved to devise a new constitutional structure for Togo, to prolong his own hold on power while playing down his personal profile, in a bid to defuse accusations of dynastic rule.

He will no longer need to stand for re-election in his own name.

The 59-year-old holds the premiership because his Union pour la République (Unir) party dominates the national assembly – and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future, thanks to a constituency map gerrymandered to over-represent its northern heartlands and understate the voting weight of the pro-opposition coastal south.

Gilbert Bawara, Togo’s civil service and labour minister, maintains the 2024 election was above board, with “all the major political actors and parties” taking part.

“The government cannot be held responsible for the weakness of the opposition,” Bawara told BBC Focus on Africa TV last week.

He added that those with a genuine reason to demonstrate could do so within the law, blaming activists abroad for inciting “young people to attack security forces” in an attempt to destabilise the country.

The new constitutional framework was announced at short notice in early 2024 and quickly approved by the compliant government-dominated national assembly. There was no attempt to secure general public approval through a referendum.

A one-year transition concluded this May as Gnassingbé – who had been head of state since 2005 – gave up the presidency and was installed in the premiership, a post now strengthened to hold all executive power and total authority over the armed forces.

To occupy the presidency, a role now reduced to a purely ceremonial function, legislators chose the 86-year old former business minister, Jean-Lucien Savi de Tové.

Source: BBC