Dakar, Feb. 6: Security forces used tear gas to disperse an opposition rally outside Senegal’s parliament on Monday as lawmakers gathered to consider the postponement of presidential elections announced by President Macky Sall, a move that has plunged the country into crisis.

Armoured police fired tear gas in an attempt to disperse around 100 people who had gathered outside parliament in Dakar, according to Reuters and AFP reporters.

The tense parliamentary session follows a day of violent street protests in the Senegalese capital – during which at least one senior opposition figure was arrested – and amid growing international concern.

On Sunday, the government ordered a private television broadcaster off the air for “incitement to violence” over its coverage of the protests, another sign of the mounting political tension in the country.

Opposition leaders have used the term “constitutional coup” to describe the current situation, which they say is an assault on democracy.

Given the political row that Sall’s decision has caused and the street protests on Sunday, the proposal does not appear to be a done deal.

Sall said Saturday he delayed the vote because of a dispute between the National Assembly and the Constitutional Court over the rejection of candidates.

“I will begin an open national dialogue to bring together the conditions for a free, transparent and inclusive election,” Sall added, without giving a new date.

The dispute Sall blamed for the delay to the election arose out of the decision by the Constitutional Court to exclude Karim Wade, son of former president Abdoulaye Wade, from running for the presidency.

He was barred because he allegedly also holds French citizenship – a decision he denounced as “scandalous”.

Wade’s supporters in the National Assembly called for a parliamentary inquiry into the partiality of two judges on the Constitutional Court.

To the surprise of some observers, members of Sall’s party were among those who voted for its passage on January 30.

Sall had designated Prime Minister Amadou Ba from his party as his would-be successor, but with the party split over his candidacy, he faced possible defeat at the ballot box.

Wade is not the only candidate the Constitutional Court has excluded from the vote.

Also barred from running is firebrand anti-establishment figure Ousmane Sonko, who has been jailed since July 2023.

His surrogate, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, has been approved to run and emerged as a credible contender to win – a nightmare scenario for the president’s camp.

The international community has reacted with concern to Sall’s decision to put off the vote.