Amid Protests, Senegal’s Parliament Fixes Presidential Election For December 15

Amid lingering protests triggered by postponement of the presidential election in Senegal, members of the Senegalese Parliament have voted to fix the election to told on December 15 after it was indefinitely postponed by President Macky Sall on Saturday.

The election was initially scheduled for February 25 and its postponement has elicited anger among the opposition as the police and protesters clashed at several locations in the capital Dakar on Monday.

During the chaotic debate, the police stormed the parliament and forcibly removed some members of the opposition

Sall announced on Saturday that the election, which was scheduled for February 25, would be postponed, pitching the West African nation into uncharted constitutional waters, and triggering violent protests.

105 MPs in the 165-seat Assembly voted to delay the election until December, which means that Sall will remain in office until his successor is installed. The president, who has served the maximum two terms, was originally due to leave office on April 2.

Although Sall has denied any ulterior motive, having declared his intention not to run for a third term, his latest action has cast doubt among the opposition figures.

Opposition leaders had denounced the delay and described it as “constitutional coup and an assault on democracy.”