BAMAKO: Vote-tallying was under way in Mali yesterday after a presidential election expected to provide a fresh start to the troubled west African nation following more than a year of political turmoil, war and a military coup.
An electorate of seven million had a choice Sunday between former premier Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and ex-finance minister Soumaila Cisse to lead Mali’s recovery, following last year’s coup that ignited an Islamist insurgency.
The election, the first since 2007, is seen as crucial for unlocking more than $4bn in aid promised after international donors halted contributions in the wake of the coup.
Louis Michel, head of the European Union’s election observation mission, said there was “absolutely nothing doubtful or suspicious to report” and that voting had taken place “in good conditions, in a serene, quiet atmosphere”.
“Whoever is elected will be elected with democratic legitimacy. That is my belief,” he told reporters in the capital Bamako, adding that there had been “a leap forward in terms of democracy in this country”.
The government has until Friday to make public the result of the run-off -- called after none of 27 candidates in the first round on July 28 secured an outright majority -- but observers expect an announcement sooner.
Early signs were positive for Keita, with a Mauritanian camp for Malian refugees reporting that its vote had gone overwhelmingly in his favour. A Mauritanian local government source said 76 percent of some 3,500 voters at the Mbera camp in the country’s southeast had chosen Keita over Cisse.
Keita, 68, and Cisse, 63, lost out in 2002 to Amadou Toumani Toure, who was overthrown by a military junta in March last year as he was preparing to end his final term in office.
The return to democratic rule will allow France to withdraw most of the 4,500 troops it sent to Mali in January to oust Al Qaeda-linked extremists who had occupied the north in the chaos that followed the coup.
Keita was more than 20 percentage points ahead of his rival in the first round but Cisse had complained about widespread fraud. AFP
