Senegal APR Defections Spread as Ex-President Sall’s Party Loses Local Leaders
Senegal · Politics
Key Facts
- —What happened Mamadou Kassé, head of Tambacounda’s departmental council, quit Macky Sall’s APR this month and launched his own party on 19 September 2026.
- —The backlash APR youth and women in Tambacounda say they will demand he hand back the council seat won under the party banner.
- —Who else left Former minister Abdoulaye Bibi Baldé founded a party; ex-lawmaker Amy Yaya Diallo and ex-official Bamba Ka joined Kiiraay.
- —Why it matters The Senegal APR defections feed Kiiraay, launched by President Faye on 25 July 2026 after his split with Ousmane Sonko.
- —The catch Some outlets say Kassé has joined Kiiraay; he said his party would seek alliances and heed Faye’s call.
- —What comes next Prime Minister Ahmadou Al Aminou Lô has set municipal and departmental elections for 17 January 2027.
Former president Macky Sall’s party keeps losing local leaders, many drifting toward President Bassirou Diomaye Faye’s new Kiiraay party. Local elections are due in January.
Senegal APR defections have now reached the eastern city of Tambacounda. Mamadou Kassé, who heads the local departmental council, has quit former president Macky Sall’s party and launched his own.
The Alliance for the Republic, or APR, governed Senegal under Sall from 2012 until it lost the presidency in March 2024. Since then, former ministers, lawmakers and mayors have been walking out.
Many are heading toward Kiiraay, the party President Bassirou Diomaye Faye launched in July after breaking with his former mentor, Ousmane Sonko. Municipal and departmental elections set for 17 January 2027 give every move a deadline.
A new party in Tambacounda, and a demand for the seat back
Senego, a Senegalese news site, reported Kassé’s exit from the APR on 11 September 2026. In his statement he thanked Sall but named no new political home.
On Saturday 19 September he held the founding congress of his own party at Tambacounda’s regional cultural centre. It is called the Rally of the Republican People, or RPR, also known by the Wolof name Yoonu Ndam.
Guests from Faye’s camp urged him to join the presidential majority, the news site Xibaaru reported. They included Alpha Thiam, the minister of culture, crafts and tourism, and Tambacounda’s mayor, Papa Banda Dièye.
Kassé said the congress had given him a mandate to seek alliances. The RPR would not stay “deaf to the call for the Republic” issued by Faye, he said, according to Xibaaru.
Senego and PressAfrik already describe him as having rallied to Kiiraay. The daily Les Echos, cited by Senegal7, said he launched the RPR before joining Faye’s party.
A departmental council is the elected assembly that runs a department, the tier of local government below Senegal’s 14 regions. Kassé won his seat under the APR banner in the January 2022 local elections.
The APR’s local base answered on the evening of 19 September. Young people and women in the party said they would go to the council to demand that mandate back, Senego reported.
Their meeting coincided with a regional tour by Abdou Mbow, the APR spokesman and a vice-president of the National Assembly. No response from Kassé to the demand has been reported.
A former minister and a former lawmaker went first
Earlier this month the party lost two better-known names. Abdoulaye Bibi Baldé served Sall as minister of agriculture, planning, environment and then communications between 2012 and 2019.
He was also mayor of Kolda, in southern Senegal, from 2014 to 2022. On 5 September 2026 he unveiled his own party at a meeting in Kolda, the news site Dakaractu reported.
It is called the Rally for the Ecosystemic Transformation of Senegal, or RTES. Baldé told supporters he had first frozen his activities within the APR while building it.
Amy Yaya Diallo, a former member of parliament from Bakel in the east, joined Kiiraay after being received by Faye. The daily Les Échos reported the move, as cited by Seneweb.
Diallo had also sat on the High Council of Territorial Collectivities, a since-abolished advisory body on local government.
On Sunday 13 September, Bamba Ka followed her at a press conference in Saint-Louis, Ndarinfo reported. He is a former director general of the city’s regional university services centre.
“This carefully considered choice is neither a break with my convictions, nor a disavowal,” he said, as quoted by Seneweb.
Why Faye’s new party is the destination
Faye won the March 2024 presidential election as the candidate of Pastef, the movement Sonko leads. The two men later fell out, and Faye dismissed Sonko as prime minister by decree on Friday 22 May 2026.
Days later, Sonko was elected president of the National Assembly with 132 of 133 votes cast, according to Socialnetlink. Faye’s new government, under Prime Minister Ahmadou Al Aminou Lô, was named on 1 June.
Faye launched “Kiiraay – Les Patriotes Républicains” in Dakar on Saturday 25 July 2026, the state daily Le Soleil reported. The venue was the King Fahd Palace, and the name is drawn from Wolof, Senegal’s most widely spoken language.
“Today, we are founding a common home. To found is to sow a seed,” Faye told the gathering, according to Le Soleil.
Senegalese media call the pattern “transhumance”, the migration of politicians toward whoever holds power. The daily Les Échos, cited by Exclusif.net, spoke of more than 300 mayors leaving the APR since 2024.
The paper asked why none of them faced a demand like the one now aimed at Kassé.
A hard week for Sall on two fronts
The losses come as Sall campaigns to become United Nations secretary-general. In the Security Council’s third straw poll, on Friday 18 September, he drew five encourage votes and nine discourage votes.
One member expressed no opinion, the business site Financial Afrik reported. The straw polls are informal, non-binding soundings among the council’s 15 members.
What to watch before the January vote
Prime Minister Lô told parliament on 8 September 2026 that municipal and departmental elections will be held on 17 January 2027. Current local mandates began in January 2022.
Moundiaye Cissé, executive director of the civil-society group ONG 3D, has questioned the timetable. “Ça sent le report,” roughly “it smells like a postponement”, he said on Radio Sénégal.
On Friday 18 September, presidential spokesman Abdoulaye Tine told the state broadcaster RTS’s programme Nay Leer that Faye would “speak before long”. The remark set off speculation about the election date, Xalima reported.
Tine issued a written clarification on 20 September, Le Soleil reported. He said he had announced “neither an election date nor a message from the head of state to the nation”.
For the APR, the test is whether its remaining councillors stay through the campaign. For Kiiraay, it is whether the newcomers bring their voters with them.
In Tambacounda, the next step is the promised visit by APR activists to the departmental council. No date for it has been reported.
More: Africa coverage, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the APR in Senegal?
The Alliance for the Republic, or APR, is the party of former president Macky Sall, who governed Senegal from 2012 to 2024. It lost the presidency in the March 2024 election. The Senegal APR defections since then include former ministers, former lawmakers and local officials. Some have founded their own parties, while others have joined President Faye’s Kiiraay.
What is Kiiraay?
Kiiraay – Les Patriotes Républicains is the party President Bassirou Diomaye Faye launched at the King Fahd Palace in Dakar on Saturday 25 July 2026. Its name comes from Wolof. It formalised Faye’s break with Ousmane Sonko, the Pastef leader who had been his mentor and prime minister.
Is Ousmane Sonko still in government?
No. Faye ended Sonko’s term as prime minister by decree on 22 May 2026, a decree that also ended the whole government’s term. Days later Sonko was elected president of the National Assembly with 132 of 133 votes cast. He leads Pastef, the party that brought Faye to power.
When are Senegal’s next local elections?
Prime Minister Ahmadou Al Aminou Lô told parliament on 8 September 2026 that municipal and departmental elections will be held on 17 January 2027. Some civil-society voices, including Moundiaye Cissé of ONG 3D, have questioned whether that timetable can hold.
Sources: Xibaaru on the RPR founding congress, Senego on the APR demand in Tambacounda, Senego on Kassé’s exit from the APR, Dakaractu on Abdou Mbow’s tour, Senegal7 citing Les Echos, Exclusif.net on departing mayors, Dakaractu on the RTES launch in Kolda, Seneweb on Baldé and Amy Yaya Diallo, Seneweb on Bamba Ka, Le Soleil on the Kiiraay launch, Le Soleil via SenePlus on the dismissal decree, Socialnetlink on Sonko’s election as speaker, Oeil d’Afrique on the election calendar, Seneweb on Moundiaye Cissé, Le Soleil on Tine’s clarification, Ndarinfo on Bamba Ka’s press conference, Xalima on the RTS remarks, Financial Afrik on the UN straw poll
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error
Read More from The Rio Times