New Delhi, May 27 -- Senegal 's National Assembly elected ousted Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko as parliament speaker Tuesday, defying President Bassirou Diomaye Faye who fired him days earlier and threatening political deadlock in a country already buckling under record debt.

Sonko was sacked alongside all other ministers last week, following months of tensions between him and the president as their powerful partnership that drove them to power crumbled. His firing triggered the resignation of the parliament speaker. Faye named a new prime minister Monday and is expected to announce a new cabinet in the coming days.

Faye and Sonko took office following the March 2024 presidential election, promising to carry out ambitious reforms that in...