Mali’s major political parties have rejected the military junta’s proposal to extend its rule for five more years, putting off the next presidential election until 2026, reported DW News.
On Saturday, Mali’s foreign minister, Abdoulaye Diop, submitted the proposal to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
As per the plan, the interim government would conduct a constitutional referendum in 2023, a legislative election in 2025 and a presidential election in 2026.
The military junta said the five-year period would be appropriate to undergo political and institutional reforms leading to the organization of general and referendum elections in the country.
The junta’s time frame, outlined in the document sent to regional mediators, significantly extends their time in power. The proposal, if accepted, would extend the current transitional government’s tenure in power until January 2027.
The coalition of 10 political parties said in a statement it rejects the unilateral and unreasonable timetable.
Mali’s junta claims that elections cannot be conducted next year due to deepening insecurity across the country.
Notably, Mali’s transitional government had previously agreed to conduct presidential and legislative elections by February 2022, 18 months after a coup led by Colonel Assimi Goita ousted President Boubacar Ibrahim Keita. Goita staged another coup in May 2021 when he ousted the interim president and took over the job himself.
The 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which had threatened to impose more sanctions if the junta fails to conduct the election by February, responded to the junta’s proposal by calling for a special meeting. The bloc will hold a summit in the Ghanaian capital of Accra on January 9 to discuss Mali’s situation.
Mali’s military junta’s action have deepened tiff with former colonial power France, which has deployed thousands of soldiers across West Africa’s Sahel region to fight Islamist insurgents.
