calm in Bamako, incidents in the center and north

" President, there are five minutes left! Bring in the delegates " enthusiastically shouts Boubacar Diallo, one of the two assessors of polling station No. 5. Four delegates of the 24 candidates running for the first round of the presidential election enter and sit silently on the dilapidated desks

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It is 8 am, Sunday, July 29th. At the school in Boulkassoumbougou, in the suburbs of Bamako, the vote begins on time for the 30,600 registered voters in this center. As in most polling stations visited by the 100 observers of the European Union Observation Mission (MUEE)

"70% of the 44 offices we observed opened on time. The remaining 30% have been delayed by 5 to 30 minutes " Cécile Kyenge, the head of the mission, explained late in the morning.

" There is anxiety "

A Boulkassoumbougou, a few minutes before the start of the vote, the delegates have their eyes riveted on the ballot box, returned without cover, that Boubacar Diallo shakes vigorously. "Look at all, look good, there is nothing in it" he says before resting it. For Mr. Diarra, it is important to stress this point: no fraud will be allowed. Especially in these times of controversy

Suspicions of fraud, launched by a party of the opposition on July 20, marked the end of the campaign and heated the spirits. "Everything is perfect, everyone has agreed" Mr. Diallo repeated, before bringing in the first voter. Issa Daou, in his sixties, is the only voter present in front of the office. He enters, goes to the voting booth and makes his choice. "There is anxiety he admits leaving. But all these post-election crisis stories are just words. Everything will be alright.

In this polling center, undistributed voter cards, which latecomers could withdraw today, have not arrived. The same observation was made in several other polling stations

A few kilometers away, in full downtown Bamako, this is the opposite problem. In the voting center of Oulofoubougou Bolibana, undistributed voter cards have arrived. "But look a little at the size of the pile. No one has yet come to withdraw " deplores Boubacar Diarra, the coordinator of the center. It is 9:45 am and since the opening of the vote, the stack of 173 voter cards to be withdrawn has not decreased. It represents more than a quarter of the subscribers.

"The citizens are disappointed of the policies"

"It is not going to be like in 2013, this time I have the impression that people do not go not going out to vote " Mr. Diarra believes. Five years ago, people were mobilized very early in the morning, because there had been a coup and the Malians wanted to set up a legalistic regime. Today, citizens are disappointed with politics. Their living conditions have not changed. They do not believe it anymore. Especially since it is the same politicians who have been in charge since the advent of democracy, more than fifteen years ago!

Hands dipped in her fari, a green bean paste cooked in the straw, Fatimata Diarra looks at the incessant broom of vehicles and motorcycles, stopping in front of the Nelson Mandela High School voting center, the central district of the Hippodrome. 21,341 electors are registered. What does she think of the election? "That's fine ," she says between two customers. There are people this morning. More than usual .

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Will she go to vote? "I think especially of money, it will work well today" she smiles. On her right, Awa Diarra puts pieces of marinated goat on wooden picks. "Maybe we'll vote after" she said shyly. The cook admits having "a little scared. All we want is for the election to take place in peace, no matter who wins. "

Aggressions, looting and theft of election materials

If in Bamako, the election was held in the morning calmly, several incidents were found in the center and in the north of the country, represent nearly 37% of the electorate. "In the region of Timbuktu, 17 urns were washed away during the night of 28 to 29 July. As a result, the offices of the 4 centers could not open. reports the Coalition for Citizen Observation of Elections in Mali (COCEM), which has deployed 1,000 observers in the field.

The West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP), with 300 deployed agents, prepares for its share list of nine localities without voting operation in the region of Timbuktu

In the Mopti region, in the center of the country, several localities have been attacked. In Kounari, in the circle of Mopti, the president of a polling station was attacked. In Fatoma, in the same circle, a local of the sub-prefecture containing electoral material was burned the night before the vote. In Gandamia, in the circle of Douentza, electoral agents were attacked, preventing the vote from taking place.

The first results of this first round are expected within 48 hours. Provisional official results must be announced no later than August 3, before a possible second round on August 12.

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