In Mali, the transition president’s remarks made during the Council of Ministers on Wednesday November 27 sparked numerous comments. According to the official report, General Assimi Goïta raised the prospect of future elections. But also many other objectives.
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Following the first participation of General Abdoulaye Maïga in the Council of Ministers as head of the Malian government, it is mainly the remarks by transitional president Assimi Goïta on the preparation of elections which provoke comments.
The mention of possible elections is rare enough for it to be striking, especially on this occasion, but it is not an announcement: no date has been set, and “ the organization of transparent and peaceful elections » only appears in the eighth and last position of “ determining questions » cited by General Assimi Goïta “for the success of the Transition”. Behind in particular “ defense and security “, “ political and institutional reforms “, ” meeting the basic needs of the population » or even the “ reinforcement » of Malian diplomacy.
These ” determining questions » are assigned in “ fundamental orientations of the mission of the new government team », with many detailed examples, ranging from the continued strengthening of the armed forces to the implementation of initiatives linked to the Alliance of Sahel States.
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“ Create the necessary conditions »
Regarding the electoral issue, the transitional president simply invites the new government to “ create the necessary conditions » for the polls « who will have to put an end to the Transition “. A formula that is ultimately very vague and which is above all nothing unusual: if the elections have been postponed several times, and the end of the Transition planned for last March has been postponed sine diethe military in power have always officially assured that these elections were among their objectives.
Their evocation by General Assimi Goïta, in this way, can therefore be interpreted both as a step forward in this sense and as an attempt to reassure without further commitment. Many Malian political actors have expected an imminent announcement in recent weeks. This was before the government reshuffle.
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“2025 will be an election year”
Soumaila Lah is a Malian teacher-researcher and political analyst, national coordinator in Bamako of the Citizens’ Alliance for Security Sector Reform.
“ I think the process is underway. The first reason is that the 2025 finance bill (which must be examined by the CNT, the legislative body of the Transition, by the end of the year, Editor’s note) provides an envelope for holding elections , a little over 80 billion FCFA.
The second indicator is that when you take the composition of the new government, you see that there is a delegated ministry responsible for supporting the electoral process. This name was not incorporated in the previous government. The third indicator today is the fact that Aige, the Independent Electoral Management Authority, is really very active on the ground and has been in contact for a while with political parties to possibly move towards electoral issues. , find consensus. These three factors reinforce my idea that 2025 will truly be an election year.
The big unknown is the logic in which these elections will be organized: will the President of the Transition himself be a candidate? Will he not be a candidate? For me, this is the question that remains unclear at the moment. »