Mali: Military Authorities Propose Five-Year Extension of Transition Period

 The Mali authorities proposed a five-year extension of the transition period for the formation of the new government. However, a union of political parties rejected the military government's plan of five-year transition before elections.

Mali’s military leaders recently released a new timetable for the transition period. The political parties rejected the new timetable. They said that the “unilateral and unreasonable” timetable was in violation of the transition charter. Under the new timetable, the next presidential election was put off until 2026.

Presidential election on hold

One of the members of the union said that the reason for the extension was not valid. Reportedly, they cited security concerns for putting off the presidential election. However, the security problems steadily declined for a decade in Mali. 

Doussouba Konaté, a worker of the Mali office of Accountability Lab, said that there is some truth to the claim that elections cannot be held due to security concerns. Konaté further said that some people support a longer transition. He said that some people appreciate the work of the Malian president as he can confront the international community.

The political parties boycotted four days of national meetings of Mali. Reportedly, they were afraid that the government could propose a longer transition period. They said that the main goal of a transition is the end of the transition. 

The transition period

The transitional government had initially agreed to hold presidential and legislative elections in February 2022 because of the pressure from West African governments to hold elections. The transition was originally projected to last 18 months after a military junta headed by current President Assimi Goita first took power in a coup that ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in August 2020.

ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) earlier threatened to impose sanctions on Mali’s ruling military government for postponing the elections. ECOWAS is due to hold a summit about Mali in Accra, Ghana on January 9.