Parliamentary elections were held in

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

on 24 November 2013.

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta (; 29 January 1945 – 16 January 2022), often known by his initials IBK, was a Malian politician who served as the president of Mali from September 2013 to August 2020, when he was forced to resign in the 2020 Malian co ...

's party,

Rally for Mali The Rally for Mali (French language, French: ''Rassemblement pour le Mali'') is a Malian political party created by Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta (a former president of Mali) in June 2001. In 2013, Keita was elected President of Mali following several ...

, won 66 of the 147 seats in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

, with its allies winning an additional 49 seats, giving it a substantial majority. The

Union for the Republic and Democracy The Union for the Republic and Democracy (French: ''Union pour la République et la Démocratie'', URD) is a political party in Mali, led by Soumaïla Cissé. History The party was formed by those who supported Soumaïla Cissé during the 2002 e ...

, led by

Soumaïla Cissé Soumaïla Cissé (20 December 1949 – 25 December 2020) was a Malian politician who served in the government of Mali as Minister of Finance from 1993 to 2000. He thrice stood unsuccessfully as a presidential candidate, in 2002, 2013 and 2018; on ...

, won 17 seats, becoming the Opposition. The elections had originally been planned for 1 and 22 July 2012, but were postponed after the Tuareg Rebellion and the March 2012 coup d'état. A second round of voting was held on 15 December 2013.

Background

Following French intervention in the country's separatist

Azawad Azawad, or Azawagh (Tuareg: Azawaɣ, or Azawad; ar, أزواد) was a short-lived unrecognised state from 2012 to 2013. Azawagh (''Azawaɣ'') is the generic Tuareg Berber name of all Tuareg Berber areas, especially the northern half of Mal ...

region, French Foreign Minister

Laurent Fabius Laurent Fabius (; born 20 August 1946) is a French politician serving as President of the Constitutional Council since 8 March 2016. A member of the Socialist Party, he previously served as Prime Minister of France from 17 July 1984 to 20 Marc ...

said that the elections should continue as scheduled and that the number of French forces in the country would be halved. Interim Prime Minister

Django Sissoko Django Sissoko (1948 – 4 April 2022) was a Malian civil servant who was Prime Minister of Mali from December 2012 to September 2013. He was Minister of Justice from 1984 to 1988 and subsequently served twice as Secretary-General of the Presid ...

visited

Gao Gao , or Gawgaw/Kawkaw, is a city in Mali and the capital of the Gao Region. The city is located on the River Niger, east-southeast of Timbuktu on the left bank at the junction with the Tilemsi valley. For much of its history Gao was an impor ...

in northern Mali for the first time since the French intervention and rebel takeover in April 2013. He announced that the elections would take place in July and the preparations were under way. However, unnamed analysts suggested botched elections could lead to further unrest. It was later decided to hold the legislative elections a few months after the presidential polls.

Conduct

In July 2013, gunmen abducted two election officials a week before the presidential elections. Two days before the second round of the parliamentary election, two Senegalese

MINUSMA The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (, MINUSMA) is a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali. MINUSMA was established on 25 April 2013 by United Nations Security Council Resolution 2100 to stabilise t ...

peacekeepers were killed in a bombing outside the Malian Solidarity Bank in

Kidal Kidal ( Tuareg Berber: ⴾⴸⵍ, KDL, Kidal) is a town and commune in the desert region of northern Mali. The town lies northeast of Gao and is the capital of the Kidal Cercle and the Kidal Region. The commune has an area of about and includes ...

. On 15 December, the second round voter turnout was just 38.5%.

Results

In the second round, out of 5,951,838 registered voters, 2,221,283 cast a vote - with 2,122,449 being valid - totalling a 37.32% turnout, according to the Constitutional Court

Aftermath

Issaka Sidibé, an RPM Deputy, was elected as President of the National Assembly on 22 January 2014. He received 115 votes, a large majority; 11 deputies voted instead for

Oumar Mariko Oumar Mariko (born 4 February 1959) is a Malian politician, doctor and noted former student activist. He is the Secretary-General of African Solidarity for Democracy and Independence (SADI), a left-wing political party, and has three times run fo ...

, while 20 deputies cast blank votes and one deputy cast a spoiled vote."Mali: Issaka Sidibé élu président de l'Assemblée nationale"
RFI, 22 January 2014 .

References

{{Malian elections Elections in Mali

2013 in Mali Election and referendum articles with incomplete results