Presidential election in Mali: counting is underway

Polling stations officially closed at 18:00 GMT in Mali this Sunday for the first round of presidential elections. The incumbent president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, was facing 23 other candidates, including opposition leader Soumaïla Cissé. After this day, no major incident to report. The vote was able to take place under normal conditions in the big cities of the country. Some difficulties are still to be noted in central and northern Mali.

In Bamako, as early as 6 pm, the polling stations closed as planned. The presidents, badessors of the majority and the opposition have started the last stage of this day, the counting and counting of votes, under the gaze of the observers. If the affluence appeared to decrease during the day, for the moment no participation rate has been communicated.

One of the stakes of this day was the security of the polls . Especially in the center and the north of the country. Some incidents have been reported. Notably in the Kidal region, where in the middle of the day several shells fell in Aguelhok without causing any casualties. And in Lafia, a town of 16,000 inhabitants east of Timbuktu, gunmen burned the urns that night. The vote was canceled.

Votes canceled in the center

In several villages in the center, attacks and threats also weighed on the day's proceedings. No vote in Gandamia, 45 kilometers from Douentza, where armed elements attacked election officials early this morning. The vote was also interrupted in the morning in two villages of Mariko commune near Niono, where armed men burst and ransacked everything.

First reaction after this day, that of the presidential party, the RPM d Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. He notes that the vote has pbaded in calm and serenity. Some incidents are qualified as "minors" and are not likely to call into question the poll, according to the presidential camp.

The European mission dissatisfied

Another reaction, that of the international observers. The mission of the European Union held a press briefing at the end of the day and it hit the table because it still has not received the list of municipalities where the vote could not take place. " Yesterday the government made a gesture of openness we wish to see now the acts to join the word said this Sunday evening Cécile Kyenge. The head of the European Union's observation mission reminded Prime Minister Soumeylou Boubèye Maïga of the promise made on Saturday. During the consultation meeting, he badured that all observers, national and international, could follow the process of centralizing results at all levels. But this centralization starts tonight, once the polling stations have finished the counting.

For the moment, the government plays the clock. It invokes legal principles that allow polling stations to remain open after 18:00, in exceptional cases. And the government would violate the electoral law if it transmitted this list before the closing of the poll. Arguments that only convince the observers very moderately. " It is a question of transparency, it is fundamental for the validity of the results ", added Cécile Kyenge.