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BAMAKO. — The camp of Soumaila Cisee, who faced Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in the just-ended presidential run- off, yesterday contested the credibility of the upcoming results, citing irregularities. Reacting to the allegations of fraud, head of the African Union’s observation mission in Mali yesterday declared “no proof” and proposed that Cisse takes the issue to the Constitutional Court.
“I have no proof in hand. It is up to the Constitutional Court to judge whether these allegations are founded.
“We have found nothing,” Edem Kodjo, former prime minister of Togo, told Xinhua.
According to a statement by Cisse’s campaign team, when 6.8 million Malian voters went to the polls on Sunday to choose between Cisse and Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who enjoyed a clear lead in the first round held on July 28, their representatives and electoral agents were intimidated, questioned, and even detained by security forces and filled ballot boxes were found.
These irregularities “seriously corrupted the credibility of the results” of the vote, declared Gouagnon Coulibaly, head of Cisse’s campaign team.
For AU observers, “the operations of the vote of the second round is in conformity with the norms of credibility and transparency.”
In its statement released yesterday, the AU observer mission recommended political parties “wait for the results in calm.”
In the first round, Cisse won 19.70 percent of the votes cast, 20 percent less than that of his rival Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who garnered 39.79 percent. — Xinhua.
Online Reporter