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As Malians await the results of Sunday’s referendum on a new constitution, the chairman of the Modele Mali observation mission gave an overview of the voting process
As Malians await the results of Sunday’s referendum on a new constitution, the chairman of the Modele Mali observation mission gave an overview of the voting process. The disenfranchisement of voters living in the northern region of Kidal which is controlled by former rebels is highly contested. Modele Mali said its observers witnessed no vote there. There were 150 observers deployed across Mali for the election.
Modele Mali is a team of observers from civil society groups funded by the European Union. The group reported a 28% turnout in the polling stations.
Another observer group, the Coalition pour l’observation citoyenne des élections au Mali (COCEM), reported that none of its observers had noted the opening of voting centers and polling stations in the Kidal region. The regional branch of the authority in charge of elections (AIGE) in Kidal also states that the referendum could not be held throughout the region.
The president of the AIGE at the national level, Moustapha S.M .Cissé, rejected those assertions, maintaining that the vote had indeed taken place in the Kidal region. He denounced “the dissemination of false documents and information”, relayed by individuals “with no standing to speak” on behalf of the body.
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Whether or not the vote would be held in Kidal, a stronghold of armed groups that fought the central state before signing a fragile peace agreement with it in 2015, was being closely scrutinized.
Modele Mali also reported that over 80 polling stations in Mopti, in the centre of the country, were not open “due to insecurity”. The group said that a “terrorist attack” had disrupted voting in Bodio (Mopti region), but did not give further details.
