First modification:
This was announced by the military government of the African country this Friday, setting the date for the 18th of next month, after the previous deadline that expired on March 19 was not met. This is one more step for the Junta to retain power until 2024, when democratic elections are scheduled to take place.
This Friday, May 5, the Government of Mali confirmed by decree that a referendum will be held on June 18 to “decide on the draft Constitution.” This was reported by Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, spokesman for the military Junta, who read a decree on state television.
“The electoral college is convened on Sunday, June 18, 2023 throughout the national territory and in the diplomatic and consular missions of the Republic of Mali in order to rule on the draft Constitution,” he said.
This new statute will serve the military, in power in the West African nation since the overthrow of Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in August 2020, to justify their presence in power. At least until February 2024, at which time elections are expected to open the way for a new civil administration.
“Do you approve the draft Constitution?” Will be the question that citizens must answer, explained the spokesperson, with a white ballot for ‘Yes’ and a red one for ‘No’.
The spokesman also specified that the security forces will do the same in advance on June 11 and that the campaign will open on June 2 and end two weeks later.
This development, important to return control of the country to the citizens, was originally scheduled for March 19, but was indefinitely postponed.
A priori, this Constitution would strengthen the powers of the president of Mali, since it is established that it is the head of state who “determines the policy of the Nation”, the nomination of the prime minister and the other officials of the Cabinet, with the power to dismiss them when consider it. In the meantime, he will be able to dissolve the National Assembly.
Mali has suffered a severe crisis of violence due to jihadism, among other factors. Its instability also led to the expulsion of French soldiers in 2022, after years of French presence over its former colony, a nation that ended up aligning itself with Russia.
With this referendum, he will open a stage, as promised by the military some time ago, of consultations and reforms until next year’s elections take place. When the first agreed date to discuss the new Constitution was not fulfilled, skepticism grew as to whether this scheduled schedule was going to be carried out.
As justified by the Board, the postponement was due to gaining the necessary time to be able to install the representations of the electoral management body.
The Economic Community of West African States (Cedeao) had threatened Bamako with establishing a series of commercial and financial sanctions for failing to meet the agreed schedule, a blow that would have been hard for a country with few resources and in recession.
With EFE and AFP
