DAKAR, Senegal, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Senegal's president is waging a constitutional coup by moving forward with a bid for a third consecutive term, an opposition leader said.
Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade was granted the right to seek a third term when a court ruled he wasn't covered by laws imposing a presidential term limit because they were adopted after his inaugural election in 2000.
Dialo Diop, leader of the opposition National Democratic Rally, said Wade's opponents weren't going to start campaigning until the incumbent gives up his bid for a third term.
"When … Wade starts campaigning, our only common (purpose) will be to campaign against his candidacy," he was quoted by Voice of America as saying.
The United Nations said last week it had evidence that at least four people, including a police officer, were killed in clashes that followed the court's decision.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said Senegal has a long record of peaceful democratic elections, calling on all presidential candidates to renounce violence.
Diop said the opposition movement would remain peaceful but promised there "would be no election" so long as Wade was running for a third term.
