Mali Junta Shifts Election, Egypt Holds Presidential Election Dec 10-12

Mali’s military junta said it expects a short delay to presidential elections scheduled for February due to technical reasons.

The junta, which stated this yesterday, promised that a new timeline will be announced at a later date.

Mali had been expected to hold the first round of the vote on February 4, 2024, and a second round two weeks later.

The junta in a statement said the decision to delay the election to return Mali to constitutional rule after military coups in August 2020 and May 2021, was due to several factors including a dispute with a French firm over a civil registry database.

Meanwhile, the National Elections Authority of Egypt has said the country’s presidential election will hold December 10-12.

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It said election results are expected to be announced on December 23 but in the event of a run-off round, final results would be declared on January 16.

Report says the incumbent President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is a frontline contender who is expected to win despite the dire economic situation facing the country.

Also, a handful of politicians have already announced their bids to run for the presidential race but none pose a serious challenge to el-Sisi, who has been in power since 2014, a year after overthrowing the country’s first democratically elected president Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Opposition politician Ahmed al-Tantawi, an ex-lawmaker, has said he will run, and accused security agencies of arresting some of his supporters.

Other candidates who announced their bids include Farid Zahran, head of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party; Abdel-Sanad Yamama, head of the Wafd Party; and Gameela Ismail, head of the liberal Constitution Party (Dostour Party).

The country’s former army chief was declared winner of both the 2014 and 2018 elections with 97 percent of the vote.

In 2018 he faced just one opponent, himself an ardent el-Sisi supporter, after the main challenger was arrested and other hopefuls pulled out, citing intimidation.

Due to constitutional amendments in 2019, el-Sisi can stand for a third term. The amendments also extended the length of presidential terms to six years from four, allowing him to stay in office until at least 2030.