DAKAR - Senegal’s president Macky Sall set March 24 as the new date for presidential elections, potentially ending tensions that have engulfed the West African state since February.

Sall announced the decision to his cabinet on Wednesday, after he dissolved the government to replace Prime Minister Amadou Ba — the presidential candidate for Sall’s BBY ruling coalition — with Sidiki Kaba, a 73-year-old former interior minister.

The new date followed a decision by Senegal’s top court to reject a national dialogue commission’s proposal for the elections to be held on June 2. The court said holding elections after April 2, when Sall’s tenure will end, would be unconstitutional. It also decided that the list of 19 candidates for the election should not be revised, against a recommendation of the dialogue commission.

Sall has been president for 12 years. His decision to suspend the original Feb. 25 election, which parliament then ratified and postponed to December, sparked widespread unrest across Senegal. It threatened to upend the country’s reputation as a model of democratic stability in a region where many countries have been overrun by juntas.

Senegal’s parliament has also approved an amnesty bill for those who have been arrested for participating in anti-government protests. Sall proposed the bill during the national dialogue to “pacify the political arena” going into the elections. Beneficiaries of the law could include those arrested during demonstrations in 2021 following the arrest of popular opposition figure Ousmane Sonko.