Malians go to the polls on Sunday, August 11, 2013 in a runoff poll to choose the next civilian President.

After the inconclusive first round of the 2013 Malian presidential election on July 28, 2013 that saw 27 candidates running, voters return to the polls on Sunday, August 11, 2013 to choose from two contestants. Former Prime Minister Ibrahim Boubacar Keita took a strong lead with 39.79 per cent of votes as against 19.70 per cent for ex-Finance Minister Soumaïla Cissé, the runner-up.

Political Alliances

As at Tuesday, August 6, 2013, 19 of the 25 losing candidates - including Dramane Dembele who came third with 9.6 per cent of votes – had pledged their support for Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. Only two candidates - Modibo Sidibe, who came fourth with 4.5 per cent, and Jeamille Bittar, with 1.74 per cent - pledged support for Cissé. The four remaining candidates said on Tuesday that they had not yet made up their minds. Cissé, however, has the backing of Mali’s biggest political party, the Alliance for a Democratic Mali, ADEMA.

Old Voters’ Roll

Mali is still recovering from a 2012 military coup and an Islamist insurgency in the north. The first round of the presidential poll was widely criticised for using a four-year-old electoral roll, rushing the distribution of voters' cards and excluding hundreds of thousands of voters displaced by the war. Cissé, 63, who hails from the northern town of Timbuktu, claims to have been victim of these irregularities. Keita, 68, who was born in the southern Malian city of Koutiala in the Sikasso region, was not directly affected by the conflict. He has twice lost presidential elections and is considered a favourite of the army because he is the only candidate who never criticised the March 2012 military coup by Captain Amadou Haya Sanogo.

Political Tact, Experience

Keita and Cissé met before in the 2002 presidential elections when Cissé came second and Keita third. Soumaïla Cissé’s previous association with ADEMA and his ministerial experience in the 1990s under President Alpha Konaré are an added advantage. IBK tenure as PM saw the liberalisation of the economy. Also, he has been playing up his Moslem religious credentials in a country where almost 95 per cent of the 15 million population is Moslem.

Whatever the outcome of the election, the next Malian President will be a tested politician needed to lead the country after 17 months of turmoil.