Mali

[Shahab3]

Mali elections go smoothly, but problems remain

by: Emile Schepers
August 19 2013

In a runoff presidential election on August 12, former Prime Minister Ibrahim Boubacar Keita easily beat engineer Soumaila Cisse. Keita, of the Rally for Mali party, got 78 percent of the runoff vote, to about 22 percent for Cisse, of the Union for the Republic and Democracy. The turnout was about 46 percent of registered voters. Mr. Cisse readily conceded Keita's victory, in spite of complaints of irregularities in the election.

Many felt that insisting on an early presidential election while the country was still very unsettled because of a rebellion, starting in January of 2012, by Tuareg separatists in the North of the Country, the subsequent takeover of much of the north, including the towns of Timbuktu, Kidal and Gao in the North, by Islamist forces, some with Al Qaeda links, a military coup d'état in March of 2012, a French and allied African intervention earlier this year. However, the election went ahead and things appear to be fairly calm in its wake. Keita will now replace interim President Dioncounda Traoré.
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