The Senegalese president canceled the election of his successor three weeks before the planned vote, saying that a dispute between the legislature and the judiciary over allegations of corruption must first be resolved.

Speaking at the presidential palace in Dakar, Senegal’s capital, on Saturday afternoon, President Macky Sall said his words were broadcast live on his social media platforms and said the dispute between the West African country’s National Assembly and its constitutional court had reached a crisis point and that he had rejected the decree to convene the electoral committee and thus effectively postponed the elections.

But his opponents said he was essentially staging a coup and accused him of treason.

“For the first time in its history, Senegal has just suffered a coup,” said Ousmane Diallo, a researcher at Amnesty International. Posted on X.

After the country’s Constitutional Council published lists of approved candidates for the election, it emerged that some of them were admitted despite having dual citizenship, which is not allowed for presidential candidates in Senegal.

This situation, the president said, “could seriously damage the credibility of the election” in a country that “cannot afford a new crisis.”

Mr. Sall had spent years on this refuses to confirm whether he would seek a third term. Senegal’s constitution limits presidential terms to two consecutive terms. But in 2016, when Mr. Sall was four years into his first term, voters amended the constitution to shorten the term from seven to five years, which he said turned back the clock and allowed him to run for a third time.

But last July, He said he would not run againand later named Prime Minister Amadou Ba as the ruling party’s candidate for the 2024 election.

In his address to the nation on Saturday, he did not give a new date for an election but said he remained committed to keeping himself out of the race.

“My solemn commitment not to take part in the presidential election remains unchanged,” he said in his livestreamed address, before the camera showed footage of the golden lions in front of the presidential palace and the Senegalese flag with the president’s initials fluttered in slow motion.

A presidential candidate, Thierno Sall, accused the president of treason.

“Macky Sall knows that his candidate Amadou Ba cannot win the presidential election,” he said in a statement. “He is afraid of the consequences of his actions during all his years leading our country.”

Senegal has so far been spared from this Military coups which have recently hit other former French colonies bordering the arid Sahel region south of the Sahara. But critics of the president accused him of a constitutional coup on Saturday.

Like countries now ruled by juntas, Senegal has seen a wave of discontent among youth, with widespread demonstrations against a government many see as repressive and out of touch, in cahoots with its former colonial master France and not is able to create sufficient opportunities for young people who demographically dominate the country.

Many young Senegalese said there was a solution to these problems: Ousmane Sonko.

Mr. Sonko, a relatively young politician – he is 49, Macky Sall is 62 – has found support through his criticism of France, denigration of Senegalese elites and promises to boost the economy and create jobs.

He has been repeatedly accused of inciting insurrection, defaming the country’s tourism minister and rape. He was acquitted of rape but convicted of “depravity of youth” for behaving immorally towards the young masseuse who had accused him of raping her.

The allegations against him appeared to only further inflame Mr Sonko’s popularity, sending thousands onto the streets and shouting pots and pans across the country in support of him and defying the government.

At least 16 people were killed in the demonstrations, according to Human Rights Watch, and in late July the government dissolved Mr. Sonko’s party.

Mr Sonko, who is currently in prison, named Bassirou Diomaye Faye as his successor to lead the movement. But Mr. Faye is also in prison for, among other things, inciting insurrection, and it is unclear whether he can resist the leadership.