2020 Malian parliamentary election

29 March 2020 (first round) 19 April 2020 (second round)
All 147 members of the National Assembly
First party Second party Third party   Leader Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta Tiémoko Sangaré Soumaïla Cissé Party RPM ADEMA-PASJ URD Seats before 66 16 17 Seats won 51 24 19 Seat change 15 8 2   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Soumana Mory Coulibaly Oumar Mariko Tiébilé Dramé Party FARE SADI PARENA Seats before 6 5 3   Seventh party Eighth party   Leader Hamed Diané Séméga N/A Party PDES Independents Seats before 2 7
President of the National Assembly before election Issaka Sidibé RPM Elected President of the National Assembly Moussa Timbiné RPM

Politics of Mali
Constitution Human rights Slavery
Government Interim President Assimi Goïta Interim Prime Minister Abdoulaye Maïga Council of Ministers
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Parliamentary elections were held in Mali on 29 March 2020, with a second round on 19 April.^[1] They were initially scheduled to be held on 25 November and 16 December 2018,^[2] but were moved to April 2019 and then to June 2019,^[3][4] before being postponed until 2020 by the Council of Ministers.^[5] The elections were marred by violence in the north and center of the country.^[6]

These are the first elections to fill Mali's 147-seat parliament since 2013.^[7]

Thousands of Malians have died as the country suffered sporadic attacks by jihadists as well as cases of inter-ethnic violence since unrest began in 2012.^[7]

Electoral system

The 147 members of the National Assembly are elected from 125 constituencies using the two-round system to serve five-year terms. In constituencies where there is more than one seat to be elected, block voting is used.^[8]

Conduct

Leader of the opposition Soumaïla Cissé was kidnapped on 26 March, three days prior to the elections.^[9] Village chiefs, election officials, and an election observer were kidnapped; there were death threats and a police station was ransacked according to the Coalition for the Observation of Elections in Mali, which had sent 1,600 observers. Nine people were killed when their vehicle hit a landmine on 29 March. Three soldiers were killed and three injured in another landmine on 30 March. An al-Qaeda-aligned group took responsibility for the bombings, as well as an attack on soldiers and the killing of a group of Dozo hunters on 27 March.^[6]

Some people were not able to vote on 19 April, and on 30 April the Constitutional Court overturned the results for 31 seats. Keita's Rally for Mali was given ten additional seats in Parliament, making it the largest bloc.^[10]

Results

Parties formed different alliances in different constituencies, making it impossible to determine a national set of vote figures.^[11] The election continued a decades-long trend of turnout being under 40% in the country, and the first-round elections were marred by violence in the north and center of the country.^[6] The Voice of America reported voter turnout of only 12% in Bamako because of concerns about COVID-19, violence, and voter indifference.^[12]

Party		Seats
		First round	Second round	Total	+/–
	Rally for Mali	10	41	51	15
	Alliance for Democracy in Mali	2	22	24	8
	Union for the Republic and Democracy	4	15	19	2
	Movement for Mali	0	10	10	New
	Democratic Alliance for Peace	3	3	6	4
	Convergence for the Development of Mali	0	5	5
	Alliance for Solidarity in Mali	0	4	4	2
	Union for Democracy and Development	0	4	4	3
	African Solidarity for Democracy and Independence	1	2	3	2
	Yéléma	1	1	2	2
	Party for National Renaissance	0	2	2	1
	Democratic Social Convention	0	2	2
	Party for the restoration of Mali's values	0	1	1
	Malian Union for the African Democratic Rally	1	0	1	1
	Party for Economic Development and Solidarity	0	1	1	2
	Alliance for the republic	0	1	1	New
	Patriotic Movement for Renewal	0	1	1	2
	Union of democratic forces for progress	0	1	1	1
	Mali kanu Party	0	1	1	New
	Socialist Party Yelen Kura	0	1	1	New
	Other parties	0	5	5	-
	Independents	0	2	2	2
Votes cast		First round		Second round
		Votes	%	Votes	%
Valid votes		2,603,157	95.48	2,186,077	92.67
Invalid/blank votes		123,135	4.52	172,832	7.33
Total		2,726,292	100	2,358,909	100
Registered voters/turnout		7,663,464	35.58	6,691,305	35.25
Source: Constitutional Court, Full results, MaliWeb CC 2nd round Full results 2nd round

Aftermath

Opposition parties established the Mouvement du 5 juin - Rassemblement des forces patriotiques (in French) (June 5 Movement - Rally of Patriotic Forces) and thousands led by Mahmoud Dicko marched in protest on 5 June.^[10] Soumaïla Cissé was reappointed Prime Minister on 11 June, and massive protests calling for President Keita's resignation were held on 19 June.^[10]

A coup forced the resignation of Keita and Dicko as well as the dissolution of parliament on August 19.^[10][13]

References