Mali - Politics
Successive coups in August 2020 and May 2021 threw Mali into turmoil as violence persists in rural areas. Keita’s overthrow was largely precipitated by Mali’s security crisis, which has seen fighters linked to al-Qaeda and the ISIL (ISIS) group extend their influence across the north and center of the country.
The military in power since the August 2020 coup and the second transitional government they installed in June following a new coup de force, repeated that they will stick to the transition timetable announced in April 2021. Six months before the promised elections and after a year of transition that has been deemed unproductive, doubts were growing about whether Mali's colonels will hand over power to civilians in early 2022.
This ambitious timetable calls for a constitutional referendum on October 31, regional and local elections on December 26, and the first round of presidential and legislative elections on February 27, 2022. However, two months before the first scheduled referendum, the transition had already missed several deadlines. No draft constitution has been submitted to the National Transitional Council set up by the military to act as a legislative body. This should have been done in July, according to the timetable made public in April. But various electoral deadlines, including the start of updates to voter rolls and the presentation of a new constitution, have not been met.
Political and civil society actors criticized the transition authorities for a perceived lack of inclusivity and clarity in the transition process. On 31 March 2021, the President of the transitional Government, established the Comité d’orientation stratégique sur les réformes politiques et institutionelles by decree. It will serve as an advisory committee to support the Prime Minister on political and institutional reforms, notably on territorial reorganization, constitutional review and electoral reforms. The advisory committee, which comprises 50 members, 10 of whom are women, includes representatives from the transitional Government, political parties, signatory armed movements, academia, civil society, private sector, labour unions and traditional and religious leaders, held its inaugural meeting on 19 April 2021.
After some progress in the implementation of the transition road map, notably the issuance of the electoral calendar and the launch of preparations for the upcoming elections, there was some political upheaval during the reporting period, marked by the arrest and subsequent forced resignation of the President of the transitional Government, Bah N’Daw, and the Prime Minister, Moctar Ouane. Previously, following continued criticism by political and civil society actors, steps had been taken by the transitional Government to render political processes more inclusive. Progress in the implementation of the Agreement on Peace and Reconciliation in Mali remains slow and was overshadowed by the assassination, on 13 April 2021, of the President of the Coordination des mouvements de l’Azawad (CMA) and Secretary-General of the Mouvement arabe de l’Azawad-CMA.
West Africa’s main regional bloc said 07 September 2021 it was concerned Mali’s transitional government had not made sufficient progress towards organising elections early next year, as agreed after a military coup last year. in a statement, the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said that it remained “worried by the lack of concrete action” to prepare for the vote, which has been promised for February 2022 by coup leader and current interim President Colonel Assimi Goita.
Presidential and legislative elections scheduled for early 2022 in Mali could be postponed by months, the prime minister told AFP on 26 September 2021, stressing the need to ensure they are credible before going ahead. "The main thing for us is less to hold them on February 27 than to hold elections that will not be contested," Choguel Kokalla Maiga said in an interview in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
The head of Mali's military-dominated government on 12 December 2021 promised West Africa's regional bloc he would provide it with an election timetable by January 2022.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) suspended Mali following military coups in August 2020 and May 2021, sanctioning officials deemed responsible for delaying elections and threatening further measures. West African leaders on 12 December 2021 called for military-ruled Mali to hold elections in February, and threatened further sanctions in January if Bamako fails to make any commitment towards returning to democracy. "The heads of state... decided to keep the (deadline) of February 27, 2022 for elections in Mali," president of the West African ECOWAS bloc Jean-Claude Brou told reporters in Abuja, adding sanctions would be imposed in January 2022 if Mali did not move to stage polls.
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