Senegal’s Constitutional Council on Thursday approved March 24 as the new date for the West African nation's presidential election, it said in a statement released by local media.
The council noted that it is the prerogative of the president to set the date of the election and to call the electorate, so the council was merely exercising that prerogative by virtue of its dispositive power.
Senegal's Constitutional Council is the highest body responsible for ensuring that the electoral process complies with the country's constitution. On Wednesday, it declared Sall's initiative to hold elections on June 2 unconstitutional because his term as head of state expired on April 2.
The June 2 date was proposed in late February by political, religious and civil society leaders after two days of talks in the capital, Dakar, aimed at ending tensions caused by the president's February 3 decision to postpone the vote.
In early February, the leader of the West African nation revoked a decree to convene an electoral council on February 25, meaning that presidential elections will not be held on that date.
The leader's decision to postpone the presidential election led to protests in Senegal that were dispersed with tear gas and reportedly resulted in the arrest of opposition activists.
In mid-February, the Senegalese Constitutional Court annulled Sall's decree on rescheduling the presidential election. The ruling stated that the law on the postponing of the election contradicted the country's constitution.
Sall himself is not seeking re-election. The ruling party's candidate is former Prime Minister Amadou Ba, who was dismissed by the president along with the government on Wednesday.