Today, Monday, the ruling military council in Mali announced the postponement of the presidential elections that were scheduled for February 2024, and the cancellation of the legislative elections that were scheduled for the end of this year, and attributed the step to technical reasons.
The spokesman for Mali's transitional government, Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, said in a statement read to reporters in Bamako that the elections previously announced between February 4 and 18, 2024, had been postponed for technical reasons.
Among the technical reasons that led to the postponement of the elections were factors related to the adoption of a new constitution for the country, the revision of citizens' electoral lists, in addition to a dispute with a French company involved in the census. The government said it would announce the date of the presidential election in a later statement.
The Malian government also cancelled legislative elections leading up to presidential elections scheduled for the end of the year.
The statement also said that the government "decides to organize the presidential elections exclusively to get out of the transitional period, and it is certain that the other (legislative) elections will be held within a timetable to be determined by the new authorities, in accordance with the directives of the new president of the republic."
The Malian government accused a French company tasked with preparing voter registers of withholding the data from the relevant Malian authorities.
The presidential elections aim to restore Mali to constitutional rule after the military coups in August 2020 and May 2021.
The military council had also postponed the presidential and legislative elections it had promised last year, which were scheduled for February 27, 2022, aimed at handing over power to an elected civilian leadership.
Following the coups in Mali, on 9 January 2021, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) took a series of tough economic and diplomatic measures against Bamako to punish the ruling military junta for intending to remain in power for several years after coups in August 2020 and May 2021.
West African countries backed by the international community are demanding that Mali's military authority reduce the duration of the transition and introduce a new timetable for elections.