Military government of Mali postpones the presidential election to restore civilian rule

According to a government spokeswoman on Monday, Mali’s military administration has postponed a presidential election that was supposed to restore democracy to the West African country after a coup in 2020.

According to government spokesman Abdoulaye Maiga, the presidential election that was supposed to take place in February 2024 has been postponed for “technical reasons” so that the interim administration can review its election data and address a new constitutional provision that would delay the second round of voting.

The new presidential election dates will be announced at a later time, the interim administration has stated, after consultations with the Independent Election Management Authority (AIGE), according to Maiga.

The presidential election in Mali has been postponed for a second time by the military government, which took power in 2020 after two coups.

Politicians in Mali criticised the choice, which might lead to economic sanctions from the regional grouping of West African nations known as ECOWAS. Following the government’s pledge to organise the elections, the bloc eased its sanctions against Mali in July 2022.

Nothing, according to Yeleen-Kura Socialist Party leader Amadou Koita of Mali, “explains the postponement of the presidential election.”

Armed organisations with ties to al-Qaida, the Islamic State, and former rebels who had a peace agreement with the government for years but recently fell through are all attacking Mali.

When soldiers led by Colonel Assimi Goita ousted Mali’s democratically elected president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keta, in August 2020, a series of coups throughout the Sahel region of Africa began. Within 18 months, the military promised to reinstate civilian government.

But after seven months of the transition process, the military leaders fired the prime minister and temporary president they had chosen and swore in Goita as the head of the transitional government.

Voters in Mali participated in a referendum in June on a new draught constitution that the government claimed would clear the way for elections.