The decision to postpone this month’s elections in Senegal is against the country’s constitution, the country’s top court has ruled.

The Constitutional Court annulled President Macky Sall‘s decree and a contentious bill passed by parliament moving the vote to December.

Widespread protests have gripped the West African country, once considered a bastion of democracy in the region.

Opposition figures said it amounted to an “institutional coup”.

Mr Sall had announced he was pushing the election back because of what he claimed were concerns over the eligibility of opposition candidates.

Those opposition candidates and lawmakers, who filed a number of legal challenges to last week’s parliamentary bill which approved the decree, will feel vindicated by the court’s decision on Thursday evening.

Khalifa Sall, a leading opponent and a former mayor of the capital Dakar, who is not related to the president, had called the delay a “constitutional coup” while Thierno Alassane Sall, another candidate, also no relation, called it “high treason”.

The ruling effectively means the election will go ahead – but it is not clear if it will still happen on the original date of 25 February, due to the short timeframe.