AFRICA/MALI - In view of the run-off Caritas Mali proposes some measures to improve the electoral process

Monday, 5 August 2013

Bamako (Agenzia Fides) - The second round of presidential elections in Mali will be held on August 11. None of the candidates of the first round on July 28 obtained an absolute majority (50% plus one) of votes to be elected without going to the second ballot.
The two candidates are Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta (called IBK), who came first in the first round with 39.2% of the votes cast, and Soumaila Cissé, who obtained 19.4%.
Meanwhile, Caritas Mali along with Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Secours Catholique-Caritas France and Caritas au Sahel, deployed 153 election observers to monitor the vote of the first round, and has put forward various suggestions to improve the electoral process. In particular, the Directorate General of Elections (DGE) should create a system of permanent assistance to citizens to help them regulate their electoral list registration and to ensure that they can easily find a seat in which to vote. In fact, in the first round, notes Caritas, several voters had difficulty finding their seat in the absence of clear indications.
Caritas Mali also proposes the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) to strengthen collaboration with the organizations responsible for ensuring the correctness of the vote.
The Catholic organization finally appeals to the population and to the candidates to continue to operate in a peaceful environment to lead the Country out of the serious crisis following the rebel offensive in the north of the Country, in January 2012, and the subsequent military coup in March of the same year. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 05/08/2013)


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