Mali President Keita Wins Re-Election With 67 Percent Of Vote - Official Result

File Photo: Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, President of Mali and candidate for Rally for Mali party (RPM), casts his vote at a polling station during the presidential election in Bamako, Mali July, 29 2018. Reuters/Luc Gnago/File Photo 

Malian President Ibrahim Keita won re-election with 67 percent of the vote in a run-off against opposition rival Soumaila Cisse, the Ministry of Territorial Administration said on Thursday.

The victory hands Keita a second term in the mostly desert West African country where militant violence and claims of fraud by the opposition marred the poll.

The two sides have been swapping counterclaims and accusations since Monday’s second-round run-off.

The ballot pitted Keita, who is seeking a second term to rule the West African gold- and cotton-producing country, against opposition leader Soumaila Cisse, who said on Monday that the vote was fraudulent and that he was victor.

Cisse has not provided concrete evidence for his accusations and Keita has denied any wrongdoing.

The poll was tarnished by voting irregularities and militant violence that shut nearly 500 polling stations on Monday, about two percent of the total. Turnout was also low.





Disclaimer: Stories culled and pictures posted on this blog will be given due credit and is not the fault of drifternews.blogspot.com if website culled from misrepresents source of story.