Former PM Keita Wins Mali’s Presidential Polls

Mali’s former Prime Minister Ibrahim Boubakar Keita has won the country’s presidential election after his rival admitted defeat in the second round of the polls.

No official results of the Sunday runoff have been released, although reports have placed Mr Keita way ahead of his competitor, ex Finance Minister SoumailaCisse. The AFP news agency reported that Mr Cisse had congratulated Keita on the victory and wished him good luck.

The Sunday Runoff follows the 28 July election, first one since civil turmoil had threatened to divide the country into two, bearing a military-led coup and a separatist-led rebellion in the north. Mr Keita had polled 40 per cent against Cisse’s 19 per cent in the first round but could not be declared winner owing to a constitutional requirement of 50 per cent plus one of the total votes cast.

The presidential election in the first round had attracted 27 candidates, with some 6.8 million people registered to vote in the 21,000 polling stations across the country.

Mr Keita commonly known as IBK had served as prime minister from 1994 to 2000 andpresident of the national assembly from 2002 to 2007. His election comes after two unsuccessful attempts at the presidency.

Keita, 68, studied history, political science and international relations in Paris and Dakar and subsequently worked in the donor community, where he had built a noble reputation.

As president, he will now oversee more than $4bn in financial aid pledged during a donor conference for Mali in Brussels in May, set to rebuild the West African country.

Threats by armed Islamist fighters in the north, to declare the region independent had plunged the country into a civil crisis, taking advantage of a military coup earlier.

Military intervention by former colonial power, France, earlier in January has since crushed the Islamist rebellion, establishing civilian rule in the country that paved way for the landmark polls.

Currently, a 12,600-strong UN stabilisation Mission in Mali (Minusma) is deployed in the country, as France begins to withdraw its 3,000 troops.

The EU and the African Union have praised the entire electoral process as being transparent, in which France has hailed it as a “great success” .

However in the first round, Mr Cisse had protested the polls citing widespread fraud, with more than 400,000 ballots were declared spoiled.

Mr Keita faces a strong task ahead in reuniting the north and south and moreover the economic growth and tackling corruption, issues that made former President AmadouToumaniToure face criticism and eventual depose from power in a military coup in March 2012.