2023-05-01 12:00:17
The refoundation must ensure that the next leaders of Mali are well elected and effectively represent the choice of the majority of the people. Will this challenge be met?
One of the criticisms made of Malian democracy is the low legitimacy of elected officials due to the low proportion of voters who cast their votes in favor. This means that Presidents of the Republic have been elected and brought to power by only one million out of 15 million Malians. Which shows that the minority chose the leader for the majority of Malians.
This is why one of the major axes of Malikura must be very good elections. And, in particular, the upcoming presidential election must be a model. It must be the effective expression of the suffrage of the Malians concerning the leaders in whom they have confidence.
This will go through the organization of the presidential election in a peaceful and consensual socio-political and security context. Which doesn’t seem to be the case at the moment. Because, with the recent events on the ground of the security crisis, one loses oneself in conjectures.
Indeed, with the recent attack of Sévaré one can wonder more about the underhand capacities of nuisance of the forces of the evil, which benefit from the remainder of complicities as well internal as external. Because, should we ignore that the official toll of 10 dead (civilians) and sixty wounded disturbs the conscience and affects the morale of the populations. If, by chance, these “attacks of desperation” were to multiply in the country, it is not clear that the State could maintain the pace of the reforms initiated or under construction. How can the State, for example, maintain the course of the constitutional referendum, if the vast territory of Mali were to record these heinous acts of stampede by terrorists, especially since they seem to benefit from multifaceted support. What about the attack on the Nara area in which the Transitional President’s Chief of Staff was killed? How could elections be held peacefully in these conditions, when we know that the populations are troubled by fear in certain parts of the territory?
All these macabre acts of armed terrorist groups seem ultimately aimed at putting pressure on the leaders in an attempt to prevent them from achieving the assigned objectives. Because, a State confronted with the terrorist danger, with the difficulties of treasury, which must face additional expenses of repairs of materials and equipment damaged at the time of these attacks will impose additional challenges. Without counting that this same State must bleed itself to finance the reforms and the elections which must crown this Transition.
In addition, how under these conditions, the new secure biometric cards can be made in sufficient numbers to hold elections with optimal participation? How to remedy the usual contestations of electoral results, when certain significant political actors are excluded from the electoral game.
In addition, one wonders how the state can hold good elections when the administration is still not present in certain areas of the country. These are concerns that torment people’s minds and invite the government to make additional efforts.
This is why it is appropriate to find ways and means capable of bringing the whole nation together at the bedside of power to pacify the country. Because, it is not excluded that the socio-political actors who feel excluded or marginalized can pull the strings of explosions at the security level. These actors will not deprive themselves of banana peels to slide on the wheels of the Transition, there is only a small step quickly taken. It is therefore up to the head of the Transition, Colonel Assimi Goïta, to measure the extent to which the country is on a slippery slope and to surpass himself for the necessary concessions. Because, as is often said, for the preservation of Mali and for its stability, no sacrifice is too much.
Boubou SIDIBE/The Best of Boubou SIDIBE.net
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