BAMAKO, Mali (AFP) – A majority of the contenders to become Mali’s next president said on Wednesday they will not accept election results “marred by irregularities” ahead of an official verdict expected on Friday.
Major opposition figures, such as former finance minister Soumaila Cisse — seen as the president’s biggest threat in the poll, which was held Sunday — and businessman Aliou Diallo, signed the joint declaration.
“We will not accept results marred by irregularities,” the group’s statement, read out by candidate Modibo Kone, said.
“We do not want to delegitimise the entirety of the process but there needs to be a minimum of credibility,” Soumaila Cisse’s campaign director, Tiebile Drame, told AFP.
Both Diallo and Cisse have said they were sure to make it to a second round of voting, scheduled for August 12, against incumbent Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.
Keita’s camp on Monday said he appeared to be “largely ahead”.
The disgruntled candidates lashed out at alleged corruption, vote buying and ballot stuffing during voting.
There was a “village of 150 inhabitants where 3,000 people voted” for president Keita — widely known as IBK — Drame said.
Cisse’s team had warned of possible election fraud ahead of the poll, claiming that there were two electoral lists and hundreds of fake polling stations.
The ministry of local authorities is expected to announce official results on Friday at the latest.
Not a single ballot was cast at 716 polling stations in Sunday’s first round vote in the volatile central region of Mopti and some parts of the north following threats and attacks by armed groups.
There are mounting calls for the government to publish a list of polling stations where the election could not be held due to violence — a request voiced by European observers on Tuesday and echoed by opposition candidates.
There were a total of 23,000 polling stations nationwide.
The polls were observed by teams from the European Union, the African Union, the regional ECOWAS grouping and the Francophonie organisation.
In case of a second round, Drame said, talks of an anti-Keita alliance had begun, showing the president was “isolated.”
© Agence France-Presse