Mali votes on new constitution

Critics of the draft constitution say it would provide excessive powers to the president

Voters took the polls in Mali on Sunday to cast ballots on a new draft constitution that the West African country’s military leadership says is a step towards elections for a return to civilian rule in 2024.

The proposed draft constitution would “provide for a better-organized executive power, while maintaining the necessary balance with the legislative power,” Mali’s interim president Colonel Assimi Goita told the nation, in an address broadcast on state television on Saturday.

Mali is presently under the rule of military officers who seized power following a coup in 2020. A second coup followed nine months later that further wrested control of the African nation from an interim civilian government in place at the time.

Under the parameters of the proposed constitution, a two-chamber parliamentary system would be created – with a Senate added to the National Assembly already in existence. It would also provide more legislative power to the office of Mali’s president; a proposal which has been the source of political debate in Bamako amid suggestions that it provides excessive power to the president.

Goita has not yet indicated if he intends to run for president.

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The current constitution, which has been in place since 1992, declares that the “the government determines and conducts the policy of the nation.” Under the terms of the new proposed constitution, Mali’s government would “conduct the policy of the nation determined by the president.”

Opponents of the military junta have called on Malians to reject the draft constitution. Imam Mahmoud Dicko, a former supporter of the junta who has since become a chief critic, told supporters in an address on Friday that the concepts of “justice, democracy, human rights and the rule of law” are under assault in the West African country.

“What kind of democracy are we talking about?” he asked, in comments published by the Independent on Sunday. “What rule of law is there in a country where justice is used by the military to repress people?”

Mali remains in the grips of a battle with Islamist insurgency which has afflicted the country for much of the past decade. Voter turnout in the country of 21 million is expected to be low due to the conflict. Voting began at 7am local time and results are expected after around 72 hours. Presidential elections are scheduled to take place next February.

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