Mali’s election scheduled for 4 February 2024 will not happen after all

Africa 2024 Elections
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– Election period: Unknown / Not likely to happen

19 January 2024 Update: In Mali, the end of the transitional regime and the transfer of power to civilians, originally scheduled for 4 February 2024, have now been postponed indefinitely in a decision made in September 2023. The junta cited “technical reasons” for its decision. And the budget allocated for elections is not accounted for in the 2024 budget. For now, the junta has made no commitment and so it is fair to assume that there will not be elections in 20204 as initially planned. Held or not, whatever elections Mali will organize, it is not going to be free and fair, as the junta leaders are preparing the ground legally to remain in power.

(c) MondAfrique

2024 Malian presidential election

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Presidential elections were scheduled to be held in Mali on 27 February 2022,[1] following a 2021 coup. After being postponed, in July 2022 the elections were rescheduled for 4 February 2024.[2][3][4] In September 2023, the junta stated that the elections would be "slightly postponed for technical reasons".[5]

Background

Main article: 2021 Malian coup d'état

A coup d'état began on the night of 24 May 2021 when the Malian Army led by Vice President Assimi Goïta[6] captured President Bah N'daw,[7][8] Prime Minister Moctar Ouane and Minister of Defence Souleymane Doucouré.[9] Goïta, the head of the junta that led the 2021 Malian coup d'état, announced that N'daw and Ouane were stripped of their powers and that new elections would be held in 2022. It is the country's third coup d'état in ten years, following the 2012 and 2020 military takeovers, with the latter having happened only nine months earlier. After the coup, the military promised to respect the 27 February 2022 election plan by the previous government.[10] Regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African State (ECOWAS) and the African Union have suspended Mali from their organisations, but declined to impose further sanctions while repeatedly urging the authorities to hold the votes on schedule and promised more sanctions if there would be a delay.[11]

It was announced in December that a conference would take place recommending a timetable for democratic elections. On 30 December it was announced that polls scheduled for February should be delayed by six months to five years in part because of security issues.[12] A significant coalition of political parties in Mali rejected the military-led government's plans for a slow transition to democratic rule.[13] The military plan said the transition could take up to five years. Under its plan, a constitutional referendum would be held in 2023 and legislative elections in 2025. A presidential election would not take place until 2026.[14] ECOWAS, West Africa's main political and economic bloc, has imposed sanctions on the coup leaders and had promised more if Mali did not produce a plan for February elections by January.[15] On 8 January it was announced that West African leaders would discuss Mali's postponement and prepare new sanctions.[16] On 9 January ECOWAS said all member countries will close borders with Mali and impose sweeping economic sanctions in response to delays holding promised elections after a 2020 military coup. In a communique, ECOWAS said it found the proposed timetable for a transition totally unacceptable. This timetable “simply means that an illegitimate military transition government will take the Malian people hostage”, it said. The 15-member bloc said it had agreed to impose additional sanctions with immediate effect, including the closure of members’ land and air borders with Mali, the suspension of non-essential financial transactions, and the freezing of Malian state assets in ECOWAS central and commercial banks. Meanwhile, regional monetary union UEMOA instructed all financial institutions under its umbrella to suspend Mali with immediate effect, severing the country’s access to regional financial markets.[17]

At the ECOWAS summit meeting in Accra on 3 July 2022, the junta agreed to hold elections by February 2024 in exchange for the immediate removal of sanctions.[18]

In September 2023, after the breakdown of the truce with the Tuareg rebels, the Malian junta postponed the elections indefinitely due to "technical reasons" including the adoption of the new constitution, and a dispute with Idemia, a French company in charge of carrying out a census.[5]

Electoral system

The president of Mali is elected by absolute majority vote using the two-round system to serve a five-year term.[19]

References

  1. ^ "2022 Mali Presidential and Legislative Elections". National Democratic Institute. 4 August 2021. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  2. ^ Mali : nomination des membres additifs du Conseil National de Transition Andolu, 29 October 2022
  3. ^ AfricaNews (1 July 2022). "Mali's transition govt sets February 2024 for presidential election". Africanews. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  4. ^ "Mali coup: How junta got Ecowas economic sanctions lifted". BBC News. 6 July 2022. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  5. ^ a b "Mali junta delays February presidential election for 'technical reasons'". France 24. 25 September 2023. Wikidata Q125194641. Archived from the original on 28 March 2024.
  6. ^ "Mali President, PM Resign After Arrest, Confirming 2nd Coup in 9 Months". VOA News. 26 May 2021. Archived from the original on 29 May 2021. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  7. ^ "UN calls for immediate release of Mali President Bah Ndaw". BBC News. 24 May 2021. Archived from the original on 24 May 2021.
  8. ^ "UN mission in Mali calls for immediate release of detained president and PM". France 24. AFP. 24 May 2021. Archived from the original on 24 May 2021.
  9. ^ Akinwotu, Emmanuel (25 May 2021). "Mali: leader of 2020 coup takes power after president's arrest". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 25 May 2021.
  10. ^ "Mali's interim government has elections plan in light of 'fixed timeline' for transition: PM". France 24. 30 July 2021. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  11. ^ "Mali's interim government has elections plan in light of 'fixed timeline' for transition: PM". France 24. 30 July 2021. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  12. ^ "Mali Conference Recommends Election Delay of Up to 5 Years". VOA. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  13. ^ "Mali opposition rejects election delay in new transition plan". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  14. ^ Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "Mali: Political parties reject military's five-year transition to democracy plan | DW | 2 January 2022". DW.COM. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  15. ^ "ECOWAS Pushes Mali to Hold Elections Next Month". VOA. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  16. ^ "West African leaders to discuss Mali crisis after coup d'etat". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  17. ^ "West Africa bloc ECOWAS hits Mali with sanctions after poll delay". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  18. ^ "Mali coup: How junta got Ecowas economic sanctions lifted". BBC News. 6 July 2022. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
  19. ^ Mumbere, Daniel (10 July 2018). "Everything you need to know about Mali 2018 presidential election". Africa News. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Malian_presidential_election
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