Mali’s Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maïga handling a post-coup transition says the country could push back presidential and legislative elections from late February to avoid their validity being contested.
Mali’s progress back to democracy following the August 2020 overthrow of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita is being closely monitored in a region that has experienced four coups in 13 months, two of them in Mali.
Under pressure from the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, a regional bloc, Mali’s new military leaders agreed to an 18-month transition that would culminate with presidential and legislative elections on February 27, 2022.
Mali’s Interim Prime Minister, Choguel Maiga in an interview with Radio France International and France24 on Sunday, said date could be postponed by “two weeks, two months, a few months.
Last month the bloc stated that it would impose sanctions, including asset freezes, on anyone holding up preparations for Mali’s elections.
In another development, the Geodynamics Institute of the National Observatory of Greece says a magnitude 5.8 strong quake hit the country’s Crete island on Monday. According to Greek scientists, the tremor’s epicentre was located at a depth of 10 kilometres, some 25 kilometres, south of the city of Heraklion, the capital of Crete island, while aftershocks up to 4.3 magnitude have followed.
