In an interview with the newspaper Yoor Yoor, political scientist Mamadou Wane Mao described Ousmane Sonko's election as President of the National Assembly in May 2016, shortly after his departure from the Prime Minister's office, as a highly symbolic turning point. He drew a striking parallel between the Pastef leader's dismissal from the civil service in 2016 and his meteoric rise, driven, according to him, by a citizen demand for integrity and a break with the past. Far from fears of institutional gridlock, the new Speaker of Parliament's first speech, in his view, sent signals of republican maturity. According to the analyst, Ousmane Sonko was able to dispel fears of systematic confrontation or a desire "to organize vendettas," reaffirming that the new parliamentary majority "puts the best interests of Senegal above all else."

Beyond this posture of institutional appeasement, this inaugural address—which the political scientist urges to be widely disseminated in all national languages because, according to him, it is "a speech of truth and dignity"—also lays clear ideological groundwork. El Malick Ndiaye's successor notably drew red lines regarding the demands of international lenders. By firmly opposing debt restructuring, which he likened to "a capitulation to the IMF," price increases for basic necessities, and the withdrawal of subsidies for water and electricity, Ousmane Sonko said "no to structural adjustment." Mamadou Wane Mao also defended the former Prime Minister's economic record, highlighting the renegotiation of certain strategic contracts related to oil and gas, as well as the control of inflation. According to the interviewee of the daily newspaper, Senegal remains one of the few countries in the region where the cost of electricity has decreased.