Mali Unveils Electoral Calendar

Mali's military government has adopted an electoral calendar for the transition to constitutional rule, with the presidential election set for February 2024, government spokesman Colonel Abdoulaye Maïga announced Thursday.

According to the roadmap, the presidential election will be preceded by a referendum on the new Constitution in March 2023, legislative elections between October and November 2023, and local elections in June 2023, Maïga, who is also minister of territorial administration, said on state television.

Noting that the electoral roadmap was validated at a government meeting Wednesday evening, he said "the government finds it realistic."

The electoral timetable comes weeks after the junta on June 6 issued a decree stipulating that they would govern until March 2024.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) expressed "regret" when the authorities issued the decree without waiting for the end of negotiations.

Mali has witnessed two subsequent coups, in August 2020 and May 2021.

The junta had initially promised to hold elections in February this year but later changed course, saying elections would be held in 2026, a move that was rejected by ECOWAS.

Since the military took power in August 2020, it has faced pressure from ECOWAS, which insists on a rapid return to civilian rule.

ECOWAS had said the army must leave power within a maximum period of 16 months, which it considers to be reasonable.

ECOWAS imposed sanctions on Mali for delaying to restore constitutional order.

But West African leaders meeting in Ghana last month in a bid to find a solution to the political situations in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea were reportedly divided on the next set of punishments for the three countries, as coup leaders there maintained that it will take years before holding fresh elections.

The new electoral calendar will be a subject of debate when presented to ECOWAS leaders, who are due to meet again on Sunday in Accra, Ghana.

ECOWAS has linked the lifting of sanctions imposed on the junta to an acceptable timetable for the transfer of power to civilians. In a decree late Thursday, the junta announced members of a commission in charge of drafting a new constitution. -