Malians voted this Sunday, June 18, in a referendum on an amendment to the constitution that the ruling military junta says will pave the way for general elections and a return to civilian rule. This is the first election organized by the transitional military authorities since they came to power three years ago. However, the critics of the measure assure that it is just one more strategy of the board to extend its time in power.
First modification:
The Malians summoned to the polls this Sunday, June 18, voted between two options: Yes or No to changes in the Constitution that would lead to the holding of possible parliamentary elections next October and presidential elections in February 2024.
In total they are 8,463,084 Malians (4,071,508 women and 4,391,576 men) who were summoned to the polls by the Independent National Electoral Commission (CNEI) to vote in the 24,416 polling stations, after the military did the same on past June 11.
And although it is about the possible path of the African country to a civilian government, the referendum comes almost three years after the last coup, when in August 2020 the military decided to seize power after a decade of instability marked by jihadist insurgencies, a general economic crisis and various cracks in its political system.
Many doubt that the referendum and the modifications to the Magna Carta, which have been presented as the escape door for the coup government, actually bring about compliance with the schedule that the military junta has established. Arguments that come after this Sunday’s referendum has been delayed for about three months due to various irregularities.
The conditions under which the voting took place were not the most optimal expected by the electoral authorities, since voters could not go to the polls in various communities in the north of the country.
The former rebel movements that signed a fragile peace pact with Bamako have refused to allow a consultation on a draft in which they say they will not find the agreement they signed in 2015. and many of the electoral materials were not sent to offices in the Kidal region, a stronghold of ex-rebels, according to a government official, quoted by the AFP news agency.
An even more difficult scenario played out in the Menaka region, which has been suffering for months from the rise of the self-styled Islamic State. There, operations were limited to the regional capital due to insecurity.
Proposed changes to the Constitution
If Malians vote Yes in the referendum, it would replace the 1992 constitution. The African country could welcome a bicameral Parliament, National Assembly and Senate, as the country has so far only an Assembly National.
The project also consolidates the position of the president of Mali, a measure that has generated a wide political debate, since the old Magna Carta says that “the Government determines and conducts the policy of the nation”, while the new document would establish that the Government “conducts the policy of the nation determined by the president.”
With this, the powers of the president would be strengthened. The democratically elected president could choose the prime minister and the ministers of his administration and thus determine national policy. He would also have the power to present legislative projects.
The document promises amnesty for the perpetrators of the coups that have taken place before the promulgation of the new Constitution and also promises decentralized regional governments, although it does not specify how it would be done.
It also grants a place of honor to the Armed Forces and highlights the “sovereignty” of the board in the “fight against corruption, of the old French power,” the text underlines.
It also indicates that it will seek to consolidate Mali as a secular country and would give greater importance to the 13 national languages, leaving French relegated only as a “work language”.
The voice of the voters
“Today is a historic day. This vote will change many things. That’s why I voted Yes, for a new Mali,” said official Boulan Barro, who openly supports Colonel Assimi Goita, the 40-year-old top military leader.
“The draft of the new constitution that we propose foresees a better organized executive branch, maintaining the necessary balance with the legislative branch,” Goita said on state television.
For opponents of the measure, however, the project is too ambitious to be true and brings with it promises that forget the history of the West African nation.
What rule of law exists in a country where the military uses justice to repress the people?
“In our country today, can we talk about justice, democracy, human rights, rule of law? What kind of democracy are we talking about? Where is it? What rule of law exists in a country where the military uses justice to repress people? That’s the reality in this country today,” said Dicko, a longtime supporter of the junta who led the movement calling for the removal of democratically elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita before he was ousted in 2020.
Other Malians interviewed by the AP news agency said they hoped the approval of the constitution would be a step in the right direction for a country mired in Islamic extremist violence for a decade.
“I voted for this new constitution to bring us peace and stability,” said Moctar Diallo, a retired driver in Kalasoribougou. “We are in a situation where only new decisions can bring us peace,” he added.
With AFP, AP and Reuters.
