By Jaime Ortega.
Mali held this Sunday presidential elections to legitimize the political transition that aims to end an adverse year to a possibly uprising for independence and a coup that pushed the country to the brink of a revolution.
They’re twenty seven candidates. Among them the former prime ministers Modibo Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and Sidibé, former Economy Minister Cissé and Dramane Dembelé Sumaila, Adema major party candidate, presented a few programs focused on removing double and territorial political crisis, and in reconciliation, fight corruption and improving the deteriorated economy.
The last obstacle to the holding of the elections was passed on June 18 in the capital of Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou, when the Malian government and Tuareg rebels who control the northern part of Kidal signed an agreement to cease the fire.
The agreement, signed with the mediation of the President of Burkina Faso, Blaise Compaoré, also established a return to Kidals Civil Administration and the Army. A point materialized on day 5 with the establishment of a group of 150 soldiers legacies of Bamako.
In contrast to this presence, supervised and by the United Nations Mission for Stabilization in Mali (MINUSMA) and mission of France (Serval), the authorities have undertaken to organize a dialogue after the election to determine the administrative status of Azawad (the name is known to the northern region of Mali).
Similarly, a European Union mission, composed of 90 observers to short and long term, ensures the proper organization of the electoral process, which many consider a hasty date due to lack of resources and time for commissioning.
However, the head of the Directorate General for the organization of elections, General Siaka Sangare, said that thanks to this agreement they were normally able to deliver voting cards in Kidal, where 35,000 of the nearly seven million Malians voted.
Despite the “hiccups” when drawing up the lists and distributing voting cards, as recognized by several officials, the chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission, Mamadou Diamountenin, stated that, “Although the alarm has sounded in several occasions, they have launched the necessary corrective measures. “
All agree that this Sunday is key to take a giant step towards national reconciliation among the various political forces, all divided since the coup of March 22 last year, and between the Government of Bamako and Tuareg a few separatists who took up arms in January 2012.
According to the Ouagadougou agreement signed between the authorities and the Tuareg, 60 days after the conclusion of the elections will begin talks in addition to defining the administrative status of Azawad that should draw a strategy for the development of this desert region of 850,000 square kilometers.
The independence of the Tuareg uprising in northern Mali, representing 7% of the population, show the unrest sparked by many military leaders, who have not seen with good eyes how the then president, Amado Toumani Touré, handled the crisis .
This upset several protesters actions until, on March 22, as a group of soldiers led by Captain Amado Hague Sanogo staged a coup.
The coup marked the outbreak of a new political crisis and, far from slowing the advance Tuareg grew wings. The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) achieved in just one week to gain control of the north and proclaimed April 6 Azawad state.
Meanwhile, the military, under pressure from the international community and in particular by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) agreed to restore the old constitutional order through a transition in which, they have not given up.
During the remainder of 2012, while in Azawad radical Islamic groups Ansar al Din and Monotheism and Jihad in West Africa (myao) were imposed to MNLA democratic transition in Bamako, it suddenly clogged again and again.
The French military intervention in January, which led to the flight of radical Islamic groups and favored the return of MNLA north of the country, also opened the doors to these choices that are intended to seal both crises and move toward economic recovery and social development.
