"consensus" on the electoral register on the eve of the presidential election

A consensus emerged Saturday on the eve of the presidential election in Mali, about the electoral file contested a week ago by a large part of the opposition, said Saturday the head of the Mission of the UN in Mali (Minusma) and several opposition candidates

"The climate has calmed down and confidence has resumed," Minusma chief Mahamat Saleh Annadif told reporters. a last minute meeting between the Prime Minister, Soumeylou Boubeye Maïga and the Malian political forces, in the presence of representatives of the international community. "Today, everyone agrees, there is only one electoral file" and "all 24 candidates or their representatives (present at this meeting) agree to participate in the presidential election", added the representative of the UN, one of the craftsmen of the organization of this meeting.

Polemic on a risk of fraud. Three candidates – opposition leader Soumaïla Cissé, former Prime Minister Modibo Sidibé and Niankoro Yeah Samaké of the Party for Civic and Patriotic Action – confirmed that an agreement had been reached on the "electoral register" and proxies ". The end of the campaign was marked by controversy over the electoral lists, the opposition denouncing a risk of fraud because of discrepancies between the file used for the preparation of voter cards, audited in April by experts of the International Organization of the Francophonie (OIF), and the one put online at the beginning of July.

The file audited by the OIF will be used on Sunday. The government had been ensuring for days that there was only one file, explaining the anomalies by a computer server problem, without convincing the opposition so far. It also challenged a directive of the Prime Minister "liberalizing" the vote by proxy, which will ultimately be "repealed", according to the agreement reached Saturday, it was said in the entourage Soumaïla Cissé. "This is the file audited by the OIF that will serve the day of elections," said Mahamat Saleh Annadif. "Maybe there are shortcomings, but in any case the experts can go to the General Electoral Office (DGE) to check," added the head of the Minusma.

More than 8 millions of people called to the polls. The meeting also resulted in an agreement allowing national and international election observers to attend all operations in the results centers, as requested by the head of the EU observer mission, Italian MEP Cécile Kyenge. More than eight million people in this vast landlocked country of West Africa, counting about twenty ethnic groups, are called to the polls to renew President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta or to elect one of his 23 competitors.