Mali: the electoral calendar proposed by the authorities passes its first test

A voter prepares her ballot before voting in an office in Bamako.

(illustrative image) Michele CATTANI / AFP

Text by: David Baché

2 mins

The government presented Tuesday, June 28 its draft timetable, electoral calendar.

The Minister of Territorial Administration and government spokesman, Colonel Abdoulaye Maïga, had therefore summoned the political parties and civil society in order to submit to them the deadlines chosen, for the next elections therefore, but also for the main reforms. institutional.

What are the main dates chosen?  

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The date of the presidential election is scheduled for February 2024. This is not a surprise since the authorities had already officially approved a two-year extension of the Transition, until March 2024. Before that, in March 2023, there will be a referendum on the new constitution.

The commission responsible for writing it should have completed its work by November. 

In June 2023, in just one year, elections of territorial councillors, municipalities and regions will be organized and finally the legislative ones, between October and November 2023.  

Political parties and civil society were to be consulted; they were in fact informed of this timetable drawn up by the transitional government and made public four days after the visit to Bamako of the ECOWAS mediator, Goodluck Jonathan.

This suggests that this calendar is the result of discussions between the Bamako authorities and the ECOWAS mediator.  

The most loyal supporters of the junta believe that this timetable is reasonable, that it corresponds to the expectations of Malians and that it must, given all the efforts made by the transitional authorities, allow a lifting of the ECOWAS sanctions, Sunday July 3.

On the side of opponents of the junta, we judge on the contrary that February 2024 for the presidential election is too long.

The Framework which brings together the opposition parties calls for a return to constitutional order within a year maximum.

“

 ” still judges an opponent, who believes that organizing municipal, regional, legislative and a referendum, all of this in just one year, will be “

”.

An essential lifting of sanctions

That said, the executives of the various parties contacted by RFI also explain that they intend to play the game of this calendar, despite their reservations.

And this, to obtain the lifting of ECOWAS sanctions, an objective shared by all political sides.

This would make it possible to relieve the daily life of Malians, to reconnect with neighboring countries, and to finally move towards a return to constitutional order: to record the commitment of the authorities in this direction, even if some are already finding the time long .

In summary, between frank enthusiasm and muted reservations, the timetable proposed by the Malian transitional authorities seems to have passed its first test.

The second will, of course, be that of the ECOWAS summit, in four days.

►Also read: Bamako is working hard to obtain the lifting of sanctions at the Accra summit

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