Malians are due to vote on July 29,2018 in a presidential election that many hope will chart a way out of six years of political unrest and jihadist violence.
A total of 24 hopefuls are competing in the presidential race, with President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and opposition frontrunner Soumaila Cisse seen as the two main candidates.
But attacks by militants had cast doubt on the government’s ability to hold the poll on time even before the strike, which disrupted the distribution of voting cards.
Mali has been in turmoil since Tuareg rebels and loosely allied jihadists seized its desert north in 2012, prompting French forces to intervene to push them back the following year.
Those groups have since regained a foothold in the north and centre, using the sparsely-populated Sahel as a launchpad for attacks across the region
Campaigning for the first round of the election will begin on 7 July and end on 27 July, the statement from the Council of Ministers said.
A second round, if necessary, will be held on 12 August.
With no sitting president ever having lost an election in Mali, President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita (“IBK”) will almost certainly be elected to a second five-year term
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