The Superior Council of the Magistrature in Mali has appointed three new judges to sit on the Constitutional Court and made proposals for the appointment of the other six, a step forward in the settlement of the socio-political crisis that has rocked the country since June, said , Friday July 31, the government. One of the triggers of the current crisis was the invalidation at the end of April by the Constitutional Court of about thirty results of the legislative elections of March-April, including ten in favor of the majority of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta.
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Since this decision, a coalition of opponents, religious leaders and members of civil society has demanded the departure of President Keïta, in power since 2013. The weekend of July 10, a demonstration degenerated into three days of deadly unrest.
In an attempt to dissipate tensions, the Head of State announced a “ de facto dissolution ” of the Constitutional Court. Worried about the risk of chaos in Mali, the leaders of the Community of West African States (ECOWAS) adopted last Monday a plan to end the crisis providing in particular for a " rapid recomposition " of the Constitutional Court, so that the new senior magistrates settle this electoral dispute.
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Three of its members are in principle appointed by the Head of State, three by the National Assembly and three by the Judicial Council. During a meeting Thursday with President Keïta, " the members of the Superior Council agreed on three names, which will therefore be appointed under the Superior Council of the Judiciary ", explained in a video broadcast on Friday the minister of Justice, Kassoum Tapo.
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The Council also proposed that the National Assembly renounce appointing three members but rather choose " from a list of six to seven people proposed by civil society ", according to the minister. Since the president has " agreed to give up his constitutional prerogatives " to appoint three members, " there is no reason why we do not ask the same thing of the National Assembly ", estimated Kassoum Tapo, in qualifying this solution as " very intelligent ".
The recomposition of the Constitutional Court, which has the last word on electoral matters, is only one step in the plan to end the crisis. The thirty or so deputies whose election is contested formally refused to resign on Wednesday. The organization of partial legislative elections is considered unconstitutional by the opposition. The establishment of a national unity government has so far come up against the refusal of the opposition movement M5-RFP, despite the outstretched hand of the Prime Minister.