Mali submits to a referendum a Constitution that would strengthen the power of the president in the face of the promised transition

The vote will be the first since the 2020 coup and marks the beginning of a series of appointments with the polls before the 2024 presidential elections.

June 18 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The population of Mali is called to the polls this Sunday for a constitutional referendum called by the military junta on a project that would strengthen the presidential powers in the face of a promised transition since the coup d’état that overthrew the then president, Ibrahim, in August 2020. Boubacar Keita.

The referendum, which will mark the first time that Malians have turned out to vote since the aforementioned uprising –followed by another coup in May 2021 also led by the junta leader, Assimi Goita, to overthrow the transitional authorities- – will take place amid increased jihadist violence and criticism by opposition organizations and civil society of the draft Magna Carta.

The board has indicated that the vote, which arrives three months late due to logistical problems, will be the first in a series of appointments with the polls that would finally lead to a presidential election in February 2024, after years of postponement despite pressure. international calls for the military to return power to a civilian government.

The spokesman for the Malian transition government, Abdoulaye Maiga, explained during the call for the referendum that voters will have to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the following question: “Do you approve the draft Constitution?” Likewise, he affirmed that there will be white cards (for ‘yes’) and red ones (for ‘no), with the aim of simplifying voting.

The process has not been exempt from controversy, since the political opposition and the signatories of the 2015 peace agreement have boycotted the procedures of the commission created to organize the transition process -among whose decisions is the modification of the Constitution- by demanding the rapid organization of elections to establish a new authority with popular legitimacy.

The project aims to replace the current Magna Carta, drafted more than three decades ago, which is why the board has stressed that it is “the culmination of a process of democratic renewal”, although its opponents have been skeptical about the clauses intended to strengthen the powers of the president.

The document specifies that the president cannot “under any circumstances” be in office for more than two terms, but grants him powers to adopt “exceptional measures” in the event of a “serious and immediate threat to the country”, which has generated sensitivities, at the same time that it reflects that the president is the one who “determines the nation’s policy” –authority thus taken from the Government–. In addition, it indicates that the president is in charge of appointing the prime minister and the ministers, over whom he also has powers for his dismissal, leaving the Executive branch dependent on his will.

The president will also be elected by direct universal suffrage and will have powers at the legislative level by having the authority to present projects to Parliament and even submit matters considered to be of “national interest” or projects on “the organization of State institutions” to a referendum. in case of having the advice of the Constitutional Court.

On the other hand, he will have the authority to dissolve Parliament and appoint members of the civil and judicial administrations, while he is “the guarantor of the independence of the judicial apparatus”, being even president of the Supreme Council of the Judiciary, in a concentration of powers around his figure not seen in the previous Constitution, which dates from 1992.

In addition, the bill states that “the Army and the security forces participate in the economic, social, cultural and protection development of the country”, for which reason the Armed Forces become responsible for the “execution of the law”, a expansion of powers that has also caused discomfort, especially in the face of the evasions of the military junta when it comes to ceding power to civilians.

On the other hand, the document includes some demands made by the international community, including the creation of a Senate as the second parliamentary chamber and a Court of Accounts, while increasing the decentralization of local authorities — an important point of the peace agreement 2015–, as well as non-renewable term limits for members of the Constitutional Court.

THE IMPACT OF INSECURITY DUE TO JIHADIST VIOLENCE

The board also sees the referendum as a kind of plebiscite on its popularity among the population and to demonstrate to the international community that progress has been made in the highly criticized transition process, whose delays have even led to the imposition of harsh sanctions against Bamako for part of international organizations.

Thus, Goita has defended at all times that the new Magna Carta will allow the return of “all its sovereignty” to the country, in the midst of the total distancing between Bamako and France, a former colonial power, within the framework of a rapprochement in recent years with Russia, that it has even sent mercenaries from the Wagner Group — headed by Yevgeni Prigozhin, an oligarch close to Russian President Vladimir Putin — to support the junta in the fight against terrorism.

In fact, the project contemplates that French loses its status as “official language of expression”, in an example of the point to which bilateral relations have deteriorated, which included the breakdown of military agreements and the withdrawal to Paris of its status of drafter of resolutions related to Bamako in the United Nations Security Council.

Mali has harshly criticized Paris’s position towards the military junta after the latest coups d’état and the divorce has led France to end its military operation against jihadism in the African country, a decision to which the rest of the participating and collaborating countries with the ‘Barkhane’ operation and the Takuba Force.

The distancing derives in part from the postponements in the transition, although Paris has openly expressed its discomfort at the deployment of Russian mercenaries in Malian territory and has threatened the risk it posed to international missions. For its part, Bamako has accused France of not doing enough in the fight against terrorism and even facilitating its spread from the north of the country.

In this sense, one of the main doubts surrounding the vote is the participation rate, especially due to the increase in insecurity due to the activities of various jihadist groups –among which the Support Group for Islam and Muslims stand out. (JNIM), a branch of the terrorist organization Al Qaeda, and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS)–, which has caused some areas of the country to be beyond the control of the authorities.

The violence in Mali and other countries of the Sahel has caused a serious humanitarian crisis, one of which is the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people who have fled their homes trying to find safety. Thus, Mali was hosting 60,000 refugees at the end of 2022, while 440,000 Malians are internally displaced, according to data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The Observatory for Elections and Good Governance in Mali recently highlighted via Facebook that “certain regions face points of insecurity” due to the “presence of terrorist groups”, which could make it difficult to vote or reduce participation, in the face of the lack of substantial progress in the fight against jihadism by the junta, which made this one of its central promises after the 2020 coup.