#Mali-Chronogram of the elections / According to my information, here is the chronogram of the elections proposed by the government:
Referendum: March 2023
– Local authority elections: June 2023
-Legislative elections: October – November 2023
-Presidential: Feb 2024— Serge Daniel (@SergeDa58898703) June 28, 2022
Information also given by Sambi Touré, journalist and former director of communication and public relations for the presidency of Mali:
Schedule of elections proposed by the government
Referendum: March 2023
Local authority elections: June 2023
Legislative elections: October – November 2023
Presidential election: February 2024– sambitoure (@sambitoure) June 28, 2022
Tuesday afternoon, members of Malian civil society were also to be informed.
The Malian Minister of Foreign Affairs also summoned the diplomatic corps to inform them of the “politico-security situation in Mali”.
Promulgation of the electoral law
This timetable is only a proposal subject to change, but it follows the promulgation on June 24 of the electoral law adopted on June 17, a precondition for the organization of elections and a return of civilians to the power.
(See again : Mali: the new electoral law adopted by a very large majority
The National Transitional Council (CNT) has decided to set up a single body to manage the elections.
Amendment of the Independent Election Management Authority
The Malian government had indicated that once this electoral law has been adopted, it could very quickly present to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) the timetable it is requesting, with details of the stages that would lead in elections preceding the return of civilians to power.
(See again : Mali: the junta announces a two-year transition
The CNT, the legislative body of the transition, had during its examination reworked the text against the will of the government. It had adopted 92 amendments to the draft proposed by the government, out of 219 articles.
Among them, the backbone of the single body, called the Independent Election Management Authority (AIGE), has been extensively modified. From 7 members, 4 of whom were appointed by the Prime Minister, it increases to 15 members.
Of the 15 members, 3 will be appointed by the President and only one by the Prime Minister. Political parties and civil society must appoint 7 of them. The others are appointed by various public authorities.
Members of the military can be candidates
The new electoral law opens up the possibility for soldiers to stand in a presidential election.
Article 155 of the new text stipulates that “Any member of the Armed or Security Forces who wishes to be a candidate for the office of President of the Republic, must resign or request his retirement at least six months before the end of the current mandate of the President of the Republic”.
Without explicitly referring to the interim president, the article adds that “for the elections during the transition, members of the Armed or Security Forces who wish to be candidates for the office of President of the Republic must resign or request their retirement at least four months before the date of the presidential election marking the end of transition”.
ECOWAS mediation
The adoption of this bill comes in a context of tight negotiations between Mali and ECOWAS whose mediator, the former president of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan, arrived on June 23 in Bamako before leaving the next day.
Goodluck Jonathan started this umpteenth mission in Mali nine days before a new ECOWAS summit scheduled for July 3 in Accra. ECOWAS should decide there to maintain or lift the vigorous trade and financial sanctions imposed on January 9 in Mali.
(RE)read: West Africa: in Accra, ECOWAS assesses the sanctions imposed on putschist regimes
Since the military took power in August 2020, it has been pushing for a rapid return of civilians to the leadership of this country, which has been plunged into a deep security and political crisis since 2012.
It inflicted commercial and financial sanctions on Mali to stop the colonels’ project, which was then to lead for up to five additional years.
In early June, Mali set the deadline for the transition to March 2024 by decree.