The leader of the Mali junta validates the draft Constitution and asks the Government to popularize it among the population

March 18 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The leader of Mali’s military junta, Assimi Goita, has validated the draft of a new Constitution presented by the commission drafting the project, and has asked the members of the National Transitional Council (CNT) to popularize the draft of the Magna Carta before they are voted on in a referendum.

Goita has congratulated the members of the drafting commission for their work and has instructed members of the Government to “appropriate the text” and take the appropriate measures to popularize it among the “brave populations”, as detailed in a statement the spokesman for the Malian military junta, Abdoulaye Maiga, and has picked up the Maliweb portal.

The draft Constitution, which will be officially presented this Monday, has some modifications compared to the preliminary draft. The number of articles has risen from 195 to 191, some other articles on languages ​​and secularism in the country have been reformulated, and the meaning of the “notion of resignation” that leads to the loss of a parliamentarian from his office has been clarified. mandate.

To this is added the principle of representation of Malians residing abroad in the National Assembly and the elevation of the majorities required for the dismissal of certain high authorities. There is also the possibility of dissolving the National Assembly and the change of name of the Upper House of Congress, which will go from the Superior Council of the Nation to the Senate, according to the aforementioned portal.

The validation of the draft Constitution takes place days after the Malian military junta temporarily postponed the constitutional referendum scheduled for March 19, assuring that it would be to “better outline the development of the plebiscite.”

The Malian government spokesman indicated that, with this delay, the referendum process aims to fully adhere to the recommendations made in 2021 by the so-called National Conference for the Refoundation of Mali, a forum organized by the military and its allies under the boycott by opponents of the Army and criticism from the international community.

Meanwhile, different opposition parties and associations in Mali have repeatedly rejected the draft of a new Constitution proposed by Assimi Goita, assuring that the “resulting regime” of the military coups of August 2020 and May 2021 do not give legitimacy to the board for the elaboration of a new Constitution in the name of the Malian people.

Mali’s current leader led a coup against then-President Ibrahim Boubcar Keita in August 2020 and subsequently led a second coup in May 2021 against Mali’s transitional authorities — at which time he overthrew the president and prime minister. minister, Bah Ndaw and Moctar Ouane–, to end up consolidating their arrival in power.