Some seven million Malians are expected to vote on Sunday, as polls open for the country’s first presidential elections since last year's March coup sparked a takeover of large parts of the north of the country by Tuareg separatists and Islamic extremists.
While some have praised the country’s efforts in organising an election so soon after the conflict, others have questioned Mali’s readiness amid reports of thousands of citizens still without voter ID cards and thus unable to take part in the election. There are also concerns over security after Islamic militants threatened to attack polling stations.
11.00 - The election’s organisational difficulties seem to be causing some problems in the northern town of Kidal, where voters are struggling to find the right polling stations, reports FRANCE 24’s Donaig Le Du.
One of the reasons for this, she says, is that many of the lists of registered voters, which had been posted on the walls of public buildings, were blown away by high winds last night, Le Du explained.
Many in the town, however, simply do not want to take part in the vote “because they are opposed to being part of Mali”, she says.
Kidal is a Tuareg separatist stronghold where an uneasy truce has been in place since a peace agreement was signed last month. Just last week, a group of election workers were kidnapped while on their way to distribute voter ID cards in the town.
Altogether, turnout in the town has been fairly low so far, says Le Du.
10.00 - In Gao, Eve Irvine reports that people have been queuing since 6 a.m. outside polling stations to cast their votes.
The city in central Mali was among those captured by Tuareg separatists in March 2012 before falling into the hands of Islamist militants and eventually being recaptured by the French military in January.
The atmosphere in the city as polling stations opened this morning was “joyous”, Irvine reported.
“People were saying they were really very proud and very happy to cast their votes today. Since we arrived in Gao they’ve told us that electing the next president for them is the final sign that they are fully free from the months of occupation,” she said.
However, with Gao the site of multiple suicide bombings in recent months and with Islamists threatening to target the city on election day, security levels are high, with local army and police backed up by UN and French forces.
09.00 - Reporting from the capital Bamako, FRANCE 24’s Melissa Bell says that there are two big questions as the vote gets underway: “Will it happen without incident and will the participation level be sufficiently strong that Malians will not question the results?”
After the polls, the 28 candidates will be holed up in their campaign headquarters awaiting the results, she says. Some of the leading candidates, among them four former prime ministers, will have a good sense of the results by this evening.
“The big difficulty then for the authorities will be to get the official results out before the candidates can begin claiming success,” says Bell.
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