Bathily was re-elected to the National Assembly in the 1998 parliamentary election. He and the LD/MPT backed opposition candidate Abdoulaye Wade in the 2000 presidential election, and following Wade's victory Bathily was named Minister of Energy and Hydraulics in April 2000, remaining in that post until May 2001.[1] He was again elected to the National Assembly of Senegal in the April 2001 parliamentary election[2][4] from Bakel Department[4][6] as a candidate of the ruling Sopi Coalition,[4][6] and he became the Third Vice-President of the National Assembly.[7] Subsequently the LD/MPT grew increasingly at odds with Wade, and Bathily led a vote in the National Assembly against an amnesty for individuals implicated in the 1993 killing of Constitutional Council Vice-President Babacar Sèye.