The leader of the Malian junta, Colonel Assimi Goïta, will not be able to be a candidate in the future presidential election supposed to bring civilians back to power, indicates a bill presented by the military and consulted on Saturday by AFP.
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The text remains vague on the date on which elections would take place, while the question gives rise to a showdown between the Malian authorities on the one hand and the organization of West African states Cédéao as well as part of the international community on the other.
The National Transitional Council (CNT), which acts as a legislative body after the coup that brought the military to power in August 2020, began Friday to examine in committee a text reforming the "
transition charter
" , AFP correspondents learned on the sidelines of hearings that continued on Saturday.
This charter takes the place of a fundamental act of the transition period preceding a return of civilians to the leadership of this country plunged into a serious security and political crisis since the outbreak of separatist and jihadist insurgencies in 2012.
This charter promulgated by the military on October 1, 2020 set the duration of the transition at 18 months.
The authorities have since revoked their initial commitment to hold elections on February 27.
They plan to remain in place for another four or five years.
On January 9, ECOWAS imposed severe economic and diplomatic sanctions on Mali.
The 18-month period "
proves untenable
", says Colonel Goïta in the letter accompanying the project sent to the CNT.
He again invokes the need for prior reforms.
The bill provides that the duration of the transition “
is fixed in accordance with the recommendations of the National Foundation for Refoundation
”.
The authorities had organized these consultations at the end of 2021 to recommend the reforms to be undertaken and the duration of the transition.
The Assizes, presented by the authorities as the expression of a popular will but contested by part of the political class, recommended six months to five years of transition.
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The bill also stipulates that "
the president of the transition is not eligible for the presidential and legislative elections
" which will take place at the end of the transition.
This is already the case in the current version of the charter.