BAMAKO – Malian authorities early this morning has announced that President, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, has re-elected with 67 per cent of the votes in a run-off poll against opposition rival, Soumaila Cisse.
The Ministry of Territorial Administration said, the victory hands Keïta a second term in the mostly desert West African country where militant violence and claims of fraud by the opposition marred the poll.
NAN reports that the two sides have been swapping counterclaims and accusations since Monday’s second-round run-off.
The ballot pitted Keïta, who is seeking a second term to rule the West African gold- and cotton-producing country, against opposition leader Soumaila Cisse, who said on Monday that the vote was fraudulent and that he was the victor.
Cisse has not provided concrete evidence for his accusations and Keita has denied any wrongdoing.
The poll was tarnished by voting irregularities and militant violence that shut nearly 500 polling stations on Monday, about two per cent of the total. Turnout was also low.
“The results issued from our campaign headquarters indicate that Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta would be comfortably re-elected,” his campaign manager Bocary Treta told reporters.
European Union observers said on Tuesday they saw irregularities but not fraud.
“The vote generally took place calmly, despite security incidents in the centre and north,” EU mission head Cecile Kyenge told reporters in the capital Bamako.
“Our observers did not see fraud but problems of irregularities,” she said, citing threats by armed groups and a lack of communication between election officials.
