despite these circumstances, on 5 February 2020, the Government finalised the electoral roll and set the election date for 22 November 2020. 5. The Applicants aver that, in response to this decision, various political actors met to discuss the issue and released a report calling for the elections to be postponed. In light of this report, the Government tabled a bill before the National Assembly introducing new amendments seeking to remove the legal impediments to holding the elections on the date initially scheduled. The said bill was subsequently withdrawn on 13 July 2020 in order to foster political dialogue. 6. The Applicants further aver that on 20 July 2020, however, without holding a new political dialogue, and after consultations held with only a few members of the National Dialogue Monitoring Committee, the Government again tabled the amendment bill before the National Assembly. 7. The Applicants allege that on 10 August 2020, they tried unsuccessfully to have the bill rejected, after which it was finally adopted on 25 August 2020 2 and promulgated into law by the President of the Respondent State on 28 August 2020. Pursuant to the changes that were introduced through the law, the Government was empowered to invoke force majeure or exceptional circumstances to hold the elections despite the concerns raised by the Applicants. 8. On 16 September 2020, the Applicants petitioned the Constitutional Council challenging the constitutionality of the amendments to the Electoral Code. On 16 October 2020, the Constitutional Council dismissed the said petition for being brought against a law that had already been enacted. 2 See Law No. 034-2020/AN of 25 August 2020 amending Law No. 014-2001/AN of 3 July 2001 on the Electoral Code. 3