A United Nations Security Council (UNSC) delegation on Sunday informed Mali’s interim authorities have agreed to confirm a date for post-coup elections after national reform consultations in December, reported Reuters.
The announcement comes after the UNSC delegation urged Malian authorities to restore civilian rule in the country after two coups in less than a year as the ruling junta said it needs more time to prepare the transition. The first round of legislative and presidential elections for restoring constitutional order is scheduled for 27 February 2022.
The Security Council was led by Kenya, Niger and France and joined by U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
The UNSC delegation members met with Mali’s transition leaders, political parties and civil society representatives, and signatories of the 2015 peace agreement in Bamako over the weekend to assess the country’s progress back to democracy following the August 2020 overthrow of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.
Niger’s U.N. ambassador, Abdou Abarry, said the Malian authorities have told them that they would announce an electoral schedule soon after the national reform talks in December.
“While we cannot object to the reforms, we should not delay the end of the transition,” Abarry told a news conference.
In September, interim Prime Minister Choguel Maiga said the elections could be postponed by “two weeks, two months, a few months” but that the final decision would be taken in October.
“This is an opportunity for us to show the reality in Mali, the progress of the transition, but also our vision for a transition through free and credible elections,” said Mali’s foreign minister, Abdoulaye Diop, said after meeting with the UNSC delegation.
Mali is under immense pressure from its regional neighbors to hold presidential elections by February 2022.
Last month, ECOWAS, which negotiated the transition with military authorities in September 2020 and early October 2020, reiterated its demands at a special summit that the elections be held within the non-negotiable deadline of February 2022.
