“Me or Chaos”: The “Anyone but Sonko” Coalition Organizes for 2029

On November 3, 2026, Senegal’s National Assembly rejected the 2026 supplementary finance bill. Finance Committee chair Alphonse Mané Sambou then called for the 2027 initial budget bill to be withdrawn, and on November 7 the committee voted against the budgets of several institutions, including the Presidency, the Constitutional Council and the Supreme Court. The Finance Ministry denounced obstruction, while the author portrays the votes as political confrontation organized around Ousmane Sonko. The piece also recalls that in 2011, when Sonko led the tax and estates agents’ union, he organized a 72-hour strike that reportedly cost the state 50 billion CFA francs.