Senegal’s parliament has voted to move the election to December 15, backing President Macky Sall’s earlier postponement, which has sparked widespread protests in the country.

Mr Sall’s election postponement got parliamentary backing on Monday as opposing lawmakers were forced out of the chamber, leaving 105 MPs to vote in favour of the postponement.

“The vote took place after opposition deputies were evacuated by the military from the National Assembly,” Seneweb, a local paper, reported on Monday.

This would see Mr Sall remain in office until the election is held and a successor is produced.

On Sunday, Mr Sall’s government shut down internet access in the country amid a protest against his postponement of the election scheduled for February 25.

“The internet of data mobile phones is temporarily suspended from Sunday, February 4, 2024, at 10:00 p.m.,” Moussa Bocar Thiam, Senegal’s minister of communication, telecommunications and digital affairs, announced in a statement, claiming the shutdown was “due to the dissemination of several hateful and subversive messages relayed on social networks in a context of threats of disturbances to public order.”

On Sunday, ECOWAS urged the authorities in Senegal to urgently choose a new date for the country’s presidential election.