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The approximately 23,000 polling stations were open from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm local time, with first results expected within 48 hours, provisional official results by August 3, before a possible second round on the 12 th Aug.
More than eight million inhabitants of this vast landlocked country of West Africa, counting about twenty ethnic groups, must decide to renew the president Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, 73 years old, or to elect one of its 23 competitors, including the leader of the opposition, Soumaïla Cissé, and one woman, Djeneba N'Diaye.
The international community, presented militarily with the French force Barkhane, who took over the operation Serval launched in 2013 against the jihadists, and with the UN peacekeepers, expects from the victor a revival of the peace agreement signed in 2015 by the government camp and the ex-Tuareg rebellion, the application of which accumulates the delays.
Evil According to the agreement, jihadist violence not only persisted but spread from the north to the center and south of the country, then to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, often intermingling with inter-communal conflict.
2013 election helped "restore constitutional order," in 2018 Malians must prove that "the democratic process is irreversible," said the head of the UN mission in Mali, Mahamat Saleh Annadif, stressing that the The country's situation remained "fragile."
The incumbent president voted shortly after 9 am local time in Bamako, while the opposition leader was to fulfill his civic duty in Niafounké, in the region of Timbuktu, in the north-west of the country.
In the North, where the state has little or no presence, especially in Kidal (north-east), bastion of the former rebellion, the armed groups signatory to the agreement participate also to secure the vote [19659008] The army and security forces were widely present across the country in an attempt to ensure the proper conduct of the vote. Photo: Reuters / Luc Gnago
Violence
Despite the mobilization of more than 30,000 members of the national and foreign security forces, according to the Ministry of Homeland Security, a series of attacks targeting equipment and agents in the north and center of the country.
In Fatoma, in the Mopti region (center), election officials were subjected to violence, which prevented the holding of the vote, according to a group of Malian observers and the governor.
Further east, in the rural commune of Gandamia, 11 polling stations were ransacked, electoral agents assaulted and equipment destroyed, according to the same sources.
In Pignari Bana , near Bandiagara (center), "in the four villages there was no vote, armed groups banned the presence of state administrators" and local authorities preferred to obey, said to the AFP the mayor of the com mune, Bourema Napo.
In the rural commune of Lafia, east of Timbuktu, the vote could not be held, the ballot boxes having been set on fire on the night of Saturday to Sunday by suspected jihadists, according to the Local Authorities.
In this region, "security forces are concentrated in urban centers rather than in rural areas," a Tombouctou civil society official, Yehia Tandina, told AFP.
"The European observation mission asks the Malian authorities to publish the list of offices where the vote could not take place," said in the evening its leader, Cécile Kyenge, stressing the importance of "transparency" and "the integrity of the election."
Rocket fire targeted the UN mission camp (Minusma) in Aguelhok (north-east), without reaching their target or causing casualties, according to a source of security within the Minusma.
The rate of Participation is traditionally low in the first round of the presidential election, in this country known for its cultural influence, but where less than a third of the over-15s are literate.
The UN wants free elections
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who visited Mali two months ago, called on the protagonists to allow "a peaceful, free and transparent process" and "to resort to the institutions provided for this purpose in case
The opposition, which denounced a risk of fraud, ended up agree Saturday with the government to participate in the vote, despite its reservations on the electoral register.
On Friday, the jihadists were invited at the end of the campaign, by a video of the leader of the main jihadist alliance of the Sahel, linked to al-Qaeda, the Malian Touareg Iyad Ag Ghaly, leader of one of the Islamist groups that had seized all the north of Mali in 2012.
"These elections are nothing more than the continuation of a mirage and our people will only harvest illusions," said the head of the Support Group for Islam and
Citing the alleged abuse of the Malian army against civilians in the center of the country, he said that "these crimes will not go unpunished."
The turnout is traditionally low, significantly lower than 50%, in the first round of the presidential election in this country known for its cultural influence, but where less than a third of the over-15s are literate.
"If the new president can really give young people more chances and really fight against corruption, I think a lot of things will go in this country, "hopes Ahmed Tidiane Ségéga, an air traffic controller.
The governor of Mopti, in the center of the country, the General Sidi Alassane Toure said he was "very optimistic" about participation in this region, given the rate of withdrawal of voters' cards, which is slightly higher than the national average of 74.5%.
But at Bamako, Mounkoro Moussa, a tradesman from Djenné, in the center of the country, a crossroads of trans-Saharan trade, points out that to travel to one's region of origin "it's not easy, there's fear in our hearts. All I want from the next President is that he first addresses the problem of security. "
