In Mali, are they heading towards a postponement of the elections?
On January 23, the Malian Minister of Territorial Administration, Colonel Abdoulaye Maïga, chaired the Steering Committee for the Referendum and General Elections. The meeting was held at the headquarters of the brand-new Independent Election Management Authority (Aige), installed just two weeks ago. This meeting was an opportunity to display the government’s desire to organize elections, but also to prepare public opinion for a possible postponement.
“The elections will take place, and the return to constitutional order remains a cardinal vision”. On the other hand, Colonel Abdoulaye Maïga, Minister of Territorial Administration, is less categorical about respecting the timetable announced by the transitional authorities and validated by ECOWAS after long negotiations which in July 2022 allowed the lifting of the sanctions which hit the country.
Huge difficulties
The president of Aige, master Moustapha Cissé, for his part listed the “enormous difficulties” with which he has precisely confronted: “Constraints of time, of securing the territory, and of other questions being dealt with such as the use of the biometric identity card, the vote of the security forces and that of the displaced. »
For some reason, these statements aim to prepare public opinion for a possible postponement of the elections. “The junta is moving towards a postponement, estimates Ismaël Sacko, president of the PSDA and vice-president of the opposition platform Jigiya Koura. But they want others to say it so they won’t be accused of not keeping their promises”.
The constitutional referendum is scheduled for March 2023, the presidential election to mark the end of the Transition period, in February 2024, in just over a year. Between the two are also planned territorial and legislative elections.
An untenable official calendar?
“The dismemberments of the Aige in the regions must be ready six months before the elections, but they are still not in place”, explains Ibrahima Sangho, president of the Observatory for elections and good governance in Mali. Before developing a long list of technical and legislative arguments making, according to this expert in electoral processes, the official calendar is untenable.