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<zksmith@email.unc.edu>
Mali Election Update #6 5-12-97
The final days leading to Sunday's Presidential vote were
marked by tension, a few violent confrontations in Segou,
and a peaceful and orderly trip to the polls on Sunday.
On Thursday, May 8 the Constitutional Court turned down an
appeal by the two groupings of opposition parties who had
filed a motion to postpone the once rescheduled
presidential elections. All opposition candidates, with
the exception of one, had pledged to boycott the election.
Friday, May 9 was tense in Segu as a group of 300 youths
blocked streets, burned two vehichals and laid siege to the
regional headquarters of the ruling ADEMA party. The
youths were eventually dispersed by security forces.
The opposition parties held a mass march in Bamako on
Saturday to reiterate their demands for the
cancellation/postponement of the elections and resignation
of the ADEMA government followed by the appointment of a
new transitional government. The march attracted 3,000
people and was peaceful. The opposition urged all
citizens to stay away from the poles on Sunday though they
were furious when it was learned that their names would
appear on ballots in spite of their boycott. This was
because they had failed to officially notify the
Independent Electoral Commission that they had withdrawn
their candidacies.
Voting on Sunday was reported to be light but orderly in
most parts of the country. Preliminary returns released
Monday evening indicate that incumbent Alpha Oumar Konare
is far ahead of the only challenger, Mamadou Diaby, leader
of the small Party for Unity, Progress and Democracy
(PUDP). Not only do the results give Konare an early 75-80%
of the vote but they also project a participation rate of
between 30-40%. This would be a higher participation rate
than that attained in the 1992 presidential elections.
Opposition politicians have announced that they will not
recognize the outcome of the election which they view as a
masquerade. They insist that after June 8, Konare's 5 year
presidential mandate will expire. For his part Konare has
pledged that if re-elected, he would invite a wide array of
opposition parties to participate in forming the new
government. This is a tactic that Konare has used
successfully in the past, most notably following violent
student protests in 1993.
Some have said that the opposition has tried to gain on
the streets what they could not gain at the ballot box and
in some ways this seems to be the case. Because of
Konare's personal popularity and the relative
accomplishments of ADEMA party during the first five years
of democratic rule, an ADEMA defeat at the polls seemed
unlikely. At the same time however the ample
irregularities noted in April's annulled legislative
elections are deeply troubling. Though most observers
indicated that the problems in April were technical rather
than intentional fraud, a number of instances of electoral
misconduct have since been uncovered and in many cases
ADEMA politicians are implicated. In this situation it is
understandable that there is little trust on the part of
opposition politicians.
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