What have there been new protests in Senegal?

The current narrative: The presidential elections scheduled for February 25 were postponed by Senegalese President Maky Sall on February 3, only weeks before the end of his second and last term. Enraged that the vote was postponed due to a disagreement between the National Assembly (parliament) and the Constitutional Council on the process of candidate selection, opposition lawmakers were taken out of parliament by riot police.

The next election has been rescheduled for December 15, thereby giving Mr. Sall an additional 10 months in office, thanks to the chamber filled with MPs from the government. Nationwide demonstrations have broken out as a result of police brutality against demonstrators, which included indiscriminate arrests and one demonstrator's murder.
Opponents of the administration have referred to the historic Dakar judgment as a parliamentary .

According to Amnesty International, the current turmoil is a recurrence of the horrific violence that was seen on the streets of Dakar last year—the worst in decades—when hundreds were injured and over 20 people died. The main opponent, Ousmane Sonko, a former populist tax inspector who exposed corruption in the nation's elites and fought against French colonial power France's influence, was sentenced to two years in prison prior to the riots.

Following a trial, Mr. Sonko—the head of the outlawed African Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics, and Fraternity—was found guilty of immoral behavior directed at a woman. Twelve people are said to have been shot dead by security police during the 2021 protests. The Constitutional Council disqualified Mr. Sonko from the presidential contest in January of this year.

With the government ordering a week-long closure of the schools and Sonko scheduled to appear in court on Monday to address the rape charge, tensions were already likely to be high in Dakar.

Sall stated on Saturday that the National Assembly and the Constitutional Council were at odds on the rejection of candidates, which is why he postponed the vote.