Ousmane Sonko announced on Monday 19 October in Dakar that Pastef deputies would vote neither for the amending finance bill for 2026 nor for the initial 2027 budget without provisions governing special funds. The party and National Assembly president was speaking at a press conference.
His parliamentary group plans to propose amendments to introduce these rules into the texts submitted to deputies, Seneweb reports. He warns that if the government resorted to a block vote, Pastef would reject the entire text if its demand were not met.
His reservations also concern the trade-offs between restoring public finances and protecting households. He criticises the cuts in appropriations he attributes to the amending bill for social spending and investment, as well as the planned reduction in subsidies for petroleum products, Le Soleil reports.
He presents the oversight of these appropriations as a political commitment by his camp, while saying he wants to discuss a compromise with the government. He says his party is not seeking to provoke an institutional crisis.
The question of special funds comes after the Constitutional Council struck down, on 15 October, an amendment to the organic law on finance laws, adopted by the National Assembly on 1 October. In its ruling, the Constitutional Council sanctioned a procedural irregularity in the handling of government amendments.
The Constitutional Council recalled that using a single vote requires deputies to accept or reject the entire text, retaining only the amendments proposed or accepted by the government.