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Mali/Parliamentary elections: the RPM, the main majority party, losing momentum

Abdrahamane Sissoko, Maliweb.net (Mali)

One of the main lessons of the election is the decline of the ruling Rassemblement pour le Mali party.

The provisional estimated results of the 2020 legislative elections have been known since Monday 21 April. One of the main lessons of the election is the decline of the ruling Rassemblement pour le Mali party, which loses 21 seats.

It is a real political beating that the ruling party has just taken. With 66 deputies in 2013, the Rassemblement pour le Mali (RPM), according to the results of the ballot box, has 46 seats in the second round of the 2020 legislative elections. The ruling party thus loses 21 seats.

According to provisional results, the weavers were defeated in Kati, Sikasso, Goundam and even Bamako, which were traditionally won by the party. Of the 14 seats in the capital, the RPM won only one seat, unlike in 2013 when the party had deputies in all communes except Commune I.

According to observers, this electoral setback was due to the lack of cohesion and unity within the presidential party. The weavers went to the legislative elections deeply divided. The party is undermined by internal dissensions where its cadres are engaged in belligerent wars.

The most emblematic case occurred in Commune V of the district of Bamako where the party alliance was fought by members of the section. As a result, the party list was defeated. Power management may also be one of the reasons for the party's electoral failure. Because very few Malians are satisfied with the management of the country by the IBK regime, which can have repercussions on the RPM.

This electoral camouflage reinforces the observers in their analysis that, historically, the RPM was not ready to take power in 2013. And like any opposition party, it also did not have to make the transition to a ruling party.

Pending the proclamation of the final results by the Constitutional Court which may make changes, the failure of the RPM contrasts with the success of parties such as ADEMA-PASJ (23 or 24 seats), URD (21 seats) or even the MPM (12 seats) which were strengthened after the legislative elections.

Originally published in French.

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