Bamako — The Ministry of Territorial Administration in Mali has announced the results of the first round of the presidential elections giving victory in first place to the former military head of state Amadou Toumani Toure (ATT).
In second place came Soumaïla Cissé, the candidate of the governing Adema party. Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, a former Prime Minister who defected from Adema, came in third. This means that Keita, known by his initials IBK does not go through to the second round run-off scheduled for 12 may, which should pit ATT against Cissé.
ATT received 602,998 votes (27.98%). Cissé got 489,957 (22.74%). IBK polled 445,030 votes giving him 20.65%. The results, which were read out by the Minister of Territorial Administration, Ousmane Sy, were described as provisional final results. The ministry, which was coordinating vote processing had assembled journalists together five times, ostensibly to announce the results of Sundays presidential poll, but failed each time.
IBK and his Rally for Mali party have already challenged the results from the Central Counting Commission denouncing them as bogus.
IBK cried foul on Thursday alleging massive fraud and vote rigging. But he called on his supporters to be calm repeating the same message on Friday after the results were announced.
But those who voted for the former Prime Minister are furious that he has lost out in the presidential contest. "They have robbed us. They have cheated us. They have stolen the elections from IBK," said Boubacar Ba, a party activist. "But we are not going to keep our arms crossed. When Mali was teetering on the brink of anarchy, it was IBK who saved Alpha (Oumar Konaré, the president). It was IBK who stopped Mali from becoming another Liberia or Sierra Leone. We remain calm but we are not going to accept this cheating," Ba told allAfrica.com outside the failed candidate's house in Bamako.
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IBK's party has indicated that it will take its complaint about irregularities in the votes to the Constitutional Court, which has the last word on whether or not to endorse the results. The court has 48 hours to entertain complaints and queries about the results before deciding to validate or reject them.
Back in 1997 after a chaotic and shambolic legislative election, fraught with irregularities, the Constitutional Court annulled the results of the vote. The opposition boycotted the repeat poll. "I am a statesman. I have confidence in the justice system of Mali, "IBK told journalists on Thursday evening.
Out of a potential 5.7 million voters in Mali, a little over two million cast their ballets last Sunday. Voter turnout was put at 38.58%. The other 21 candidates in the presidential race fell far behind the 3 front-runners.
Malians have been waiting patiently but anxiously all week to find out who might become their next president, but a tortuous and controversial vote count and validation process kept everyone in suspense. The Independent National Electoral Commission on Thursday spoke of gross violation in the process, mirroring some of the concerns expressed by IBK's party and Hope 2002, a coalition of five smaller parties which has also questioned the validity of the vote.
