The president of Senegal calls national elections. His critics call it a coup.

Senegal's president has canceled elections for his replacement three weeks before the elections. He said a dispute between the government's legislative and judiciary branches over corruption allegations had to be resolved first.

President Macky Sall said on Saturday afternoon from the presidential palace in Dakar, Senegal's capital, and his words streamed live on his social media platforms, that the dispute between the West African country's national assembly and its constitutional court had reached a crisis point, and that he withdrew the decree convening the electoral body, effectively postponing the elections.

But his opponents said he was essentially staging a coup and accused him of treason.

“For the first time in its history, Senegal has just suffered a coup,” said Ousmane Diallo, a researcher at Amnesty International. posted on X.

After the country's Constitutional Council published lists of approved candidates for the elections, it emerged that some of them had been approved despite having dual citizenship, something presidential candidates are not allowed to do in Senegal.

This situation, the president said, “could seriously damage the credibility of the elections” in a country that “cannot afford another crisis.”

Mr. Sall had been working on it for years refuse to confirm whether he would try for a third term. Senegal's constitution limits presidents to two consecutive terms. But in 2016, four years into Mr. Sall's first term, voters changed the constitution to reduce terms from seven to five years, which he said reset the clock and allowed him to run for a third time are stated.

But last July he said he wouldn't run againand later named the Prime Minister, Amadou Ba, as the ruling party's candidate for the 2024 elections.

He did not give a new date for the election in his address to the nation on Saturday, but said he was still determined to stay out of the race himself.

“My solemn pledge not to participate in the presidential elections remains unchanged,” he said in his live-streamed speech, before the camera cut to the golden lions outside the presidential palace, and the Senegalese flag embossed with the president's initials fluttered in. slow movement.

One presidential candidate, Thierno Sall, accused the president of treason.

“Macky Sall knows that his candidate, Amadou Ba, cannot win the presidential election,” he said in a statement. “He fears the consequences of his actions during all his years at the helm of our country.”

Senegal has been spared so far military coups which have recently hit other former French colonies in the arid Sahel region just south of the Sahara. But the president's critics accused him on Saturday of staging a constitutional coup.

Like countries now run by juntas, Senegal has seen a wave of youth discontent, with widespread demonstrations against a government seen by many as repressive, out of touch with former colonizer France, and incapable of create sufficient opportunities for young people. people who dominate the country demographically.

Many young Senegalese said there was a solution to these problems: Ousmane Sonko.

Mr. Sonko, a relatively young politician — he is 49, Macky Sall is 62 — has won support by criticizing France, denouncing Senegalese elites and promising to boost the economy and create jobs.

He has been variously accused of inciting insurrection, defaming the country's tourism minister and rape. He was acquitted of rape but convicted of 'corruption of the youth' for acting immorally towards the young massage therapist who accused him of raping her.

The charges against him only seemed to fuel Mr. Sonko's popularity, prompting thousands to take to the streets and bang pots and pans across the country in support of him and in defiance of the government.

At least 16 people were killed in the demonstrations, according to Human Rights Watch, and the government dissolved Mr. Sonko's party in late July.

Mr Sonko, who is currently in prison, has appointed Bassirou Diomaye Faye as his replacement to lead the movement. But Mr Faye is also in custody, on charges including incitement to insurrection, and it is unclear whether he will be able to challenge leadership.