#Mali : The presidency of the Malian transition, Colonel Assimi Goïta, will not be able to be a candidate in the future presidential election supposed to bring civilians back to power, indicates a bill presented by the military.
The National Transitional Council (CNT), which acts as the legislative body after the coup that brought the military to power in August 2020, began Friday to examine in committee a text reforming the “Charter of the transition” , AFP correspondents learned on the sidelines of hearings that continued on Saturday.
This charter takes the place of a fundamental act of the transition period preceding a return of civilians to the leadership of this country plunged into a serious security and political crisis since the outbreak of separatist and jihadist insurgencies in 2012.
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This charter promulgated by the military on October 1, 2020 set the duration of the transition at 18 months. The authorities have since revoked their initial commitment to hold elections on February 27. They plan to remain in place for another four or five years.
On January 9, ECOWAS imposed severe economic and diplomatic sanctions on Mali.
The 18 month time frame «turns out to be untenable», says Colonel Goïta in the letter accompanying the project sent to the CNT. He again invokes the need for prior reforms.
The bill provides that the duration of the transition «is set in accordance with the recommendations of the National Refoundation Conference». The authorities had organized these consultations at the end of 2021 to recommend the reforms to be undertaken and the duration of the transition.
The Assizes, presented by the authorities as the expression of a popular will but contested by part of the political class, recommended six months to five years of transition.
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The bill also stipulates that «lhe president of the transition is not eligible for the presidential and legislative elections» that will take place at the end of the transition.
This is already the case in the current version of the charter.
The post of vice-president would be abolished. This post had been tailor-made for Colonel Goïta in 2020, so that he would be in charge of security issues. Colonel Goïta has since been sworn in as president following a second coup in which he dismissed the then transitional president and prime minister in May 2021.
In the event of vacancy of the presidency or impediment, the functions will be ensured by the president of the CNT, currently colonel Malick Diaw.
The text also provides for the adoption of an amnesty in favor of «all the actors who participated in the events» of August 18, 2020 and May 24, 2021, in other words the two putsch.