Malians took part in the country’s presidential election on Sunday, but many experts say the rushed vote is not legitimate because many citizens were prevented from taking part due to security concerns. Many are also questioning France’s role in the poll. The voting took place at around 21,000 polling stations across the country, with news agencies reporting a good turnout despite Islamist militants’ promises to attack polling stations. The threats came although France has labelled its military campaign – which began in January against al-Qaeda-linked fighters occupying the north of the country – “a success.” The campaign was launched shortly after an army coup ousted Malian president Amadou Toumani Tourea. While there were queues outside polling stations in the Malian capital of Bamako, there were organizational problems in the north, with many people unable to determine the correct voting location.
“Put it this way: if I was in northern Mali, I would be hesitant to go to the polling station,” author and historian Gerald Horne told RT. “It was not long ago that those militants, so-called the Islamists, were actually ruling that part of the country. We recall the devastation and havoc they brought in terms of beating women in the streets, in terms of destroying valuable manuscripts stretching back centuries, which actually revealed the intellectual firepower that then existed in that part of Africa.”
Nationwide polls were due to open at 08:00 GMT, although Reuters reported delays as election workers awaited last-minute deliveries of voting materials.
More than half a million Malian citizens were unable to cast their ballots because they were previously removed from their homes by violence and forced to move to other regions of the country or find refuge in neighboring states.
Full Article: Will France prevail in Mali elections? — RT News.