A possible return to democracy is in sight in Mali as Presidential and legislative elections will now take place next February.
The country’s post-coup government announced on Thursday, explaining that it was honouring the timetable it promised to the international community.
By this arrangement, the first round of voting for the presidency and legislature is scheduled take place on February 27 2022, followed by runoff votes on March 13 and 22 respectively, the minister of territorial administration, Lieutenant Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, told reporters on Thursday.
The dates ‘strictly uphold‘ promises of an 18-month transition for returning to an elected government, he said.
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A referendum on a long-promised overhaul of the constitution will take place on October 31, 2021, followed by local and regional elections on December 26, Maiga added.
On August 18 last year, young military officers overthrew the country’s elected president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, after a mounting wave of protests, much of it fuelled by anger at his handling of Mali’s jihadist insurgency.
Under the threat of international sanctions, the officers handed power between September and October to a caretaker government, which is meant to rule for 18 months before staging elections.
The junta was officially disbanded in January, although the military has retained a tight grip on the interim government.
Maiga said the October 31 date for the plebiscite “takes into account the necessary time to carry out consultations, to draw up the draft constitution, to have it adopted by the National Transition Council (CNT) and finally have it adopted by referendum.”
The CNT is Mali’s post-coup legislative body.
The pledge of an 18-month transition had spurred many doubts as to whether the military-dominated government had the will, or the ability, to stage elections on such a timescale.
The country also faces a major logistical and security challenge, as swathes of territory are in the hands of jihadists.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK