Mali’s presidential election goes to run-off

Mali’s presidential election will go to a second round on August 11, the government said Friday, after no candidate secured a majority in the crunch poll which the runner up said was tainted by electoral fraud.

Figures for Sunday’s ballot announced on live television showed former prime minister Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in the lead with 39.2 percent of the vote, ahead of main rival Soumaila Cisse with 19.4 percent.

But Cisse accused the government of allowing widespread fraud to tarnish the vote after the interior ministry said more than 400,000 ballot papers had been spoiled out of some 3.5 million votes cast.

“The high turnout on July 28 should not distract from the unpreparedness, poor organisation and fraud that have characterised the first round of the presidential election,” Cisse told a media conference in Bamako.

“In preparation for the second round, I urge the government of Mali and its partners to take strict measures to ensure a clean and clear expression of the will of the people,” he added.

Cisse, a former finance minister and erstwhile chairman of the Commission of the West African Economic and Monetary Union, said “thousands, or even tens of thousands” of Malians were unable to find their names on voting lists, or even the correct polling station to attend.

His comments came after his party said Wednesday the election had been marred by “ballot stuffing”, a form of electoral fraud in which people submit multiple votes during a poll in which only one ballot per person is allowed.

A credible election is seen as key to Mali’s recovery after a coup in March last year overthrew Amadou Toumani Toure, plunging one of the region’s most stable democracies into political crisis and leading to an Islamist insurgency.

As hardline Al-Qaeda allies took control of the country’s vast desert north, and threatened to extend their often violent rule, former colonial power France launched a military offensive in January to drive out the Islamist fighters.

Four former prime ministers and an array of political heavyweights — but just one woman — featured in a list of 27 presidential hopefuls, although analysts always characterised the election as a two-horse race between Keita, 68, and Cisse.

Dramane Dembele, the candidate for Mali’s largest political party, the Alliance for Democracy in Mali, polled just 9.6 percent, taking third place.

Analysts believe Dembele’s votes and those of fourth placed candidate Modibo Sidibe, making a total of 14.5 percent, are likely to be transferred to Cisse in the run-off.

This means the backing of the also-rans — who garnered more than 25 percent between them — will be crucial.

Acting president Dioncounda Traore and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon have acknowledged that the vote may be “imperfect” in a country with 500,000 citizens displaced by conflict, but have urged Malians to respect the outcome.