Bamako, Mali — "This presidential election must mend fences." Those were the words last week of the minister responsible for coordinating Malis presidential poll, who told journalists that "everything has been done to make sure that the election is totally transparent."
But far from healing divisions, the current row over the election results and involvement of the courts seem to be echoing some of the most divisive events in Mali's past.
In his optimistic words, Ousmane Sy, the Minister for Territorial Administration, was referring to the disorganised legislative ballot that divided the country in 1997.
It was a dark period for democracy in Mali.
That election was roundly criticized for poor organisation and irregularities. The results were annulled by the Constitutional Court and the opposition went on to boycott the repeat legislative poll and the presidential ballot.
Now, once again, the same court in the capital, Bamako, is considering the results of an election, the 2002 presidential election of 28 April, to decide whether or not they are valid. This ballot too has been contested and the results disputed.
Election day appeared fairly orderly, after some long delays and the sometimes late arrival of polling station chairmen and voting material. But the aftermath has been anything but calm and the fall-out from the ballot - including allegations of vote rigging - is threatening to shake Malis political establishment to its foundations.
Provisional results
Some 24 candidates lined up to pitch for the nation's top job. On Friday, after a laborious and controversial vote count and tally, the provisional results were announced and no-one had managed to pass the 50 percent mark to win the first round outright. Now two candidates will go through to compete in a second round run-off scheduled on 12 May.
One of the two contenders left in the race are the former military leader, and retired general, Amadou Toumani Toure (popularly known by his initials, ATT). ATT came to national prominence in Mali after he led a 1991 coup, which toppled the autocratic leadership and one-party regime of President Moussa Traore.
Within a year, ATT had overseen a democratic transition and handed power back to an elected president. Many Malians value his contribution to their nationhood. And now ATT has won almost 28 percent of the vote.
Behind ATT came a former finance minister, Soumaila Cisse, who likes his supporters to call him Soumi for short. He gained just under 23 percent. Cisse qualified abroad as a computer science engineer before returning home to Mali and entering politics.
He boasted a spectacular election campaign, using a helicopter and producing a colourful campaign cartoon comic book to explain why Malians should vote for him.
The man who placed third, with almost 21 percent - and is therefore out of the running - was the former prime minister, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita (also known by his initials, IBK).
IBK is not happy. He has alleged "grotesque and massive fraud" and claimed that certain political forces "were determined that any candidate but IBK would go through" to the second, decisive round of the presidential election.
IBK was prime minister for six years under President Alpha Oumar Konare, before pulling out of the governing Adema party and setting up his own political power base, the Rally for Mali (RPM).
Konare has served a constitutional two-term limit and cannot stand again. Officially, he supports his partys candidate Cisse, but persistent speculation has it that Konare is covertly backing ATT, a view also expressed to allAfrica.com by informed sources.
IBK, and five other presidential candidates in a coalition known as Hope 2002, first questioned the vote count, then the validity of the election results. Now they are calling the whole process a "pure masquerade".
Even Mali's National Independent Electoral Commission on Thursday confirmed there had been gross violations in vote processing.
On Saturday, 24 hours after the territorial administration ministry finally announced provisional results - pending their endorsement or rejection by the Constitutional Court - IBK and the coalition called for them to be annulled.
So much for Minister Sys pledge that 2002 would witness elections that would unite Malians and repair the split between the rival camps in 1997.
Some Malians say IBK and the other failed presidential candidates are poor losers and accuse them of sour grapes.
Others, especially his angry supporters, claim IBK has been robbed of electoral victory. They are both furious and devastated, vowing not to cross their arms and do nothing.
"A people slapped in the face, cheated, insulted," is hard to control, IBK has warned. He has appealed for calm among his party activists and held a mass rally on Saturday evening, along with the other leaders of Hope 2002, to try to "calm the spirits". IBK has repeatedly told journalists he will not call for violence, as he is a man of the law, but he has urged his followers to seek legal means to fight against this "injustice".
Everyone in Mali is waiting with bated breath to hear what the Constitutional Court will say - whether it will give a thumbs up and validate the contested election results, query some results or annul them all.
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What's gone wrong?
But whatever decision it reaches, democracy in Mali may appear to be the loser in the process.
Going into the vote, Malians were wary of possible rigging but appeared generally confident that they would cast their ballots and that the results of the election would be reflect the popular will.
Now they are wondering what went wrong.
Eleven years after a popular revolution drove out a military dictator, people are asking themselves why the democracy with which they replaced him seems to have let them down.
Many put it down to a corrupt political establishment in Mali that puts its own survival before the good of the people. Issues and policies were not a priority during the campaign, they complain.
And a few Malians are simply regretting that the joker in the presidential pack, the stand-up comedian 'Guimba - who promised to make them laugh, while the politicians made them cry - did not win outright in round one.
'Guimba polled 0.49 percent, according to the provisional results - just over 10,000 out of 2.2m votes cast. But his supporters say that if 'Guimba had been given a chance, he would have governed the country with humour, conviction and genuine concern for the people - unlike the politicians.
