A Malian citizen living in Abidjan casts her vote during a referendum on the draft of the new Malian constitution in Adjame district, Ivory Coast, on June 18, 2023. photo credit: AFP
Mali’s voters voted on Sunday to draft a new constitution in a referendum that the country’s coup leader says will pave the way for new elections in 2024, but critics criticized the plan to extend his time in power. Where is the delay strategy for them?
In a message broadcast on state television on the eve of the vote, Colonel Asimi Goita told Malians that the proposed draft constitution “provides for a better organized executive power while maintaining the necessary balance with legislative power.”
However, Imam Mahmoud Diko, an opponent of the military junta, on Friday invited his supporters to a large hall in Bamako and asked them to vote against it.
“Today in our country, can we talk about justice, democracy, human rights, rule of law? What kind of democracy are we talking about? Where is it? A country where the military uses justice to suppress the people What is the rule of law there? This is the reality of this country today,” said Diko, a one-time junta supporter who led the movement before democratically elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was ousted in 2020 .
Malians who voted on Sunday said they hoped the approval of the constitution would be a step in the right direction for a country wracked by a decade of Islamic extremist violence.
“I voted so that this new constitution would bring us peace and stability,” said Moctor Diallo, a retired driver in Kalsoribougou. “We are in a situation where only new decisions can bring us peace.”
The proposed draft constitution creates a bicameral parliament, the National Assembly and the Senate; Till now there was only one National Assembly in the country. The draft also solidifies the position of the President of Mali, a move that has sparked much political debate.
The current 1992 constitution states that “the government determines and conducts the nation’s policy.” In the new constitution, the government “conducts the policy of the nation as determined by the President.”