Senegal's top election body declares election delay "unconstitutional"

Senegal's Constitutional Council ruled that parliament's postponement of the February 25 presidential election to December was not in line with the constitution.

Opposition presidential candidates and lawmakers had filed several legal challenges to last week's parliamentary bill, which also extended President Macky Sall's mandate in what critics said amounted to an "institutional coup."

Senegal's Constitutional Council on Thursday cancelled the decree signed by President Macky Sall that postponed the election, according to a judgement approved by seven members of the body.

The announcement of the postponement, only a few weeks before the scheduled February 25 vote, had sparked violent confrontations between demonstrators and law enforcement in Dakar and various other urban areas.

West African regional bloc ECOWAS and several foreign powers subsequently urged Sall to put the country back on a regular electoral footing.

Following this organisers announced the postponement of a planned protest march against President Macky Sall's decision to delay the presidential election after authorities prohibited the march from taking place.

Three people were killed in protests in Senegal over the postponement of polls, as concerns grow that one of the remaining democracies in coup-hit West Africa is under threat.