Mali – Local elections

Information is difficult to obtain, but local elections were held in Mali on 26 April.

Recall that President Amadou Toumani Touré was elected in April 2007. He is the representative of the Alliance for Democracy and Progress (ADP). The ADP also won a big majority at the July 2007 legislative elections. The ADP is made up of various parties. African Elections reports the ADP as a coalition of 12 parties, the most notable of which is the Alliance for Democracy in Mali (ADEMA). President Amadou Toumani Touré is sometimes classed as independent/non-party. The government has a considerable number of independents as well as representatives from at least six parties.

In total about 17,000 councillors were to be elected. The results are not complete and it is doubtful that national totals will be posted. However, Info Matin has collated results from the eight regional capitals. In terms of the results more generally, ADEMA emerges as the plurality party, but rarely has a majority in any council.

Malikounda draws four lessons: the Democratic Movement coalition, comprising mainly the incumbent parties, has done well; the mainly opposition Citizens Movement coalition has done fairly poorly; in some places the new CODEM party did well; and the abstention rate was high with the voting rate between 19.6% and 35.6% in the various districts in the capital, Bamako.

In short, whereas the recent local elections in Senegal were taken as a rebuff to the government, the same in not true in Mali at least so far.

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