Senegal president announces election of parliament on November 17

Senegal's President Bassirou Diomaye Faye dissolved Thursday the national assembly led by the opposition, paving the way for legislative elections to be held early on November 17.

Faye, the new leader of the country, stated in an evening speech that it was difficult to work with the Assembly after the members refused to begin discussions on the Budget Law and rejected attempts to dissolve wasteful institutions.

Faye announced the voting date in his short speech. He said, "I disband the national assembly in order to ask the sovereign population for the institutional means necessary to achieve the systemic change that I promised to deliver."

The two-year anniversary was marked on Thursday, which is the minimum amount of time before a new election.

The move on Thursday followed promises made by Ousmane sonko, the fiery Prime Minister of Senegal, to dissolve parliament and conduct a broad-ranging investigation into corruption in government.

Faye won a landslide win over the candidate of the ruling coalition in March. She promised to fight corruption and implement economic reforms which prioritized the national interest.

Last month, Senegal’s new government set up a review commission for all oil and natural gas contracts. Sonko promised to rebalance the contracts in the national interest without giving details about how long it would take.

Senegal has become a new oil-producing country in June, after Woodside Energy of Australia announced that the Sangomar oil field produced its first oil.

BP's Greater Tortue Ahmeyim liquefied gas project is expected to start production by the end this year. Jessica Donati, Bate Felix, and Cynthia Osterman edited the article.

(source: Reuters)