Lessons From Mali as Niger, Burkina Faso Prepare Polls

Despite heightened insecurity and the Covid-19 pandemic, Burkina Faso and Niger will forge ahead with their elections. Burkina Faso will hold its first round of presidential and legislative polls on November 22, while postponing the local elections to next year. Niger will hold its local elections on December 13, and the general elections are set for December 27. Since 2015, the three countries borders have become the epicentre of insecurity in the Sahel due to militant attacks, the intensifying of local conflicts and illicit activities, Mali's legislative elections held in March and April 2020, took place under similar conditions. Ibrahim Maïga writes for the Institute for Security Studies, that lessons must be drawn from the Mali experience, where the failure of internal and regional mediation exacerbated tensions between the government and the opposition, creating an impasse that led to the fall of the government. Mali now has a transitional government.