Mali’s President Amadou Toumani Touré has been re-elected with an absolute majority of votes cast in Sunday’s election, according to official results released on Thursday.
Provisional results announced by the Territorial Administration Ministry, which organised the polls and collated the returns, showed Touré won 68,3% of valid votes, while his main challenger, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, took 18,6%.
Turnout, traditionally low in Malian polls, was 36%.
Touré’s campaign had previously claimed more than 70% of votes while those backing Keita, president of the National Assembly and a former prime minister, have already cried foul and pledged to challenge the outcome.
Foreign observers say the polls in the former French colony, one of the world’s poorest countries, were free and fair.
Credited with rescuing West Africa’s second largest country from military dictatorship, Touré first seized power in a 1991 coup and won international acclaim for handing over to an elected president the following year.
The softly-spoken former parachute commando — dubbed ”The Soldier of Malian Democracy” — made a comeback as a civilian with his election in 2002.
Since then he has worked to improve relations with foreign donors and investors, while focusing much of his attention at home on mechanising agriculture and building roads to get produce to market.
The election results must be submitted by Friday to the Constitutional Court for approval. — Reuters