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Mali Elections Going ahead on July 28
[An Nahar] Mali's elections will go ahead as planned on July 28, the government said on Tuesday, amid doubts over the conflict-scarred nation's ability to organize a free and fair nationwide vote in just four weeks.The caretaker government announced presidential elections just over a month ago, raising urgent questions over the possibility of inclusive polls in a nation recovering from a coup that paved the way for Salafist tough guys to seize control of the north. "The presidential election will be held on July 28. The Malian government has never set two dates. The Ministry of Territorial Administration has never had any doubts," said Moussa Sinko Coulibaly, who holds the portfolio, after a meeting with diplomats and Mali's financial backers in the capital Bamako. Mali's election commission, which is organizing the vote alongside the government, has said however that the distribution of polling cards was seriously behind schedule and that it would be "extremely difficult" to get nearly eight million cards out in a country where 500,000 people have been displaced by conflict. It has also highlighted ongoing instability in the northeastern desert town of Kidal, which is occupied by Tuareg separatists and still has no army presence despite a ceasefire between the transitional government and the rebels signed on June 18 in Burkina Faso ...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and will leave office feet first, one way or the other... The decision to hold the first round on July 28, possibly followed by a second round on August 11, was taken by the Malian government under pressure from the international community, and especially former colonial power La Belle France. Posted by: Fred 2013-07-03 |
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