President Macky Sall of Senegal said Friday he will comply with a ruling from Senegal's Constitutional Council, which a day earlier rejected his plan to postpone the presidential election.
The president's office issued a statement that said, "The head of state will conduct necessary consultations to hold the presidential election as soon as possible."
Sall had come under pressure both at home and abroad to reverse his decision to delay the election for some 10 months.
Earlier Friday, the West African regional bloc ECOWAS urged him to follow the court's order, saying "all stakeholders in the electoral process … [should] comply with the decision of the Constitutional Council."
The election was originally set for February 25. Sall, whose second term ends in April and has said he is not running for a third, declared this month that he was postponing the vote and won approval from parliament to move it to December.
But on Thursday, Senegal's Constitutional Council ruled that the National Assembly's decision to move the election was "contrary to the constitution."
On the social media platform X, the Bureau of African Affairs of the U.S. Department of State applauded the decision, saying that they are "Glad to see the Constitutional Council's decision to put Senegal back on track for a timely presidential election."
Many Senegalese who oppose Sall welcomed the decision to cancel the delay. Khalifa Sall, an opposition leader, said, "The president has no choice: on April 2, he'll have to go."
Khalifa Sall has referenced recent events as an "institutional coup," and added that although many hoped that the council would decide a new election date, it ultimately falls upon the current government.
Sall's attempt to delay the vote generated protests across the country, and at least three people were killed in clashes between police and demonstrators.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
