Senegalese police fired tear gas at demonstrators who took to the streets again on Friday to protest President Macky Sall's decision to postpone presidential elections scheduled for February 25, media reported.
The protests began on Monday after the president's announcement and led to authorities detaining presidential candidates, arresting opposition lawmakers and shutting down the mobile internet, the media added.
On Monday, lawmakers in Senegal's parliament reportedly voted to extend Sall's mandate for six months, until December 15. According to media reports, opposition members of parliament did not take part in the vote.
One of the candidates, Mamadou Diao, told Sputnik on Monday that eight candidates in the election had appealed to the Constitutional Council to annul the decree delaying the elections.
The president's postponement of the election came amid a legislative investigation of two Constitutional Council judges whose integrity in the election process was questioned.
The move has raised concerns from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission and the African Union. The AU Commission Chairman, Moussa Faki Mahamat, called on Senegal's leadership to hold transparent elections as soon as possible "in a spirit of transparency, peace and national harmony."
President Sall announced that he is not seeking re-election in the July 2023 address to the nation, instead nominated the country's prime minister, Amadou Ba, as the ruling party's candidate for the election.