Mali's presidential party leads the way in the results of the legislative elections, with 43 out of 147 deputies in the National Assembly, for a turnout of more than 35 percent, according to provisional official figures released Thursday.

The presidential party, the Rassemblement pour le Mali (RPM), is followed by another party of the presidential movement, the Alliance for Democracy in Mali (Adema), which obtained 22 deputies, according to these results read out Thursday in Bamako by the Minister of Territorial Administration Boubacar Alpha Bah.

Then comes the formation of the former Prime Minister and leader of the opposition, Soumaïla Cissé, the Union for the Republic and Democracy (URD), with 19 deputies. Soumaïla Cissé, one of the elected deputies, was abducted on 25 March while campaigning in his electoral stronghold of Niafounké, in the Timbuktu region.

After the leading trio, the remaining 63 seats in the National Assembly are shared among 18 other parties from among the 21 that participated in the legislative elections, the first and second rounds of which were held on 29 March and 19 April respectively. Twenty-two seats had been filled in the first round.

Mali's presidential party is leading the results of the legislative elections, with 43 deputies out of 147 in the National Assembly, for a turnout of more than 35 percent, according to provisional official figures released Thursday.

The presidential party, the Rassemblement pour le Mali (RPM), is followed by another party of the presidential movement, the Alliance for Democracy in Mali (Adema), which obtained 22 deputies, according to these results read out Thursday in Bamako by the Minister of Territorial Administration Boubacar Alpha Bah.

Then comes the formation of the former Prime Minister and leader of the opposition, Soumaïla Cissé, the Union for the Republic and Democracy (URD), with 19 deputies. Soumaïla Cissé, one of the elected deputies, was abducted on 25 March while campaigning in his electoral stronghold of Niafounké, in the Timbuktu region.

After the leading trio, the remaining 63 seats in the National Assembly are shared by 18 other groups among the 21 that took part in the legislative elections, the first and second rounds of which were held on 29 March and 19 April respectively. Twenty-two seats had been filled in the first round.

Restoring legitimacy to the Assembly

According to these provisional results, which are to be validated by the Constitutional Court, participation amounted to 35.33 per cent. These legislative measures had been maintained despite the context marked by jihadi violence and the new coronavirus. Mali reported 309 confirmed cases, including 77 cured and 21 deaths as of 23 April.

The aim of the elections was to renew a parliament elected in 2013 and whose term of office was due to end in 2018, and to advance the implementation of the Algiers peace agreement. The Algiers Peace Agreement, signed in 2015 between the armed pro-independence groups and Bamako, provides for more decentralisation through a constitutional reform to be carried out by the Assembly.

Since 2012, Mali has been confronted with independence and then jihadist insurgencies and intercommunal violence that have led to thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands of displaced persons.

Originally published in French.