This is a first step towards the return of civilians to the leadership of the country. Mali's ruling junta announced Friday that it will hold a June 18 referendum on a new constitution that is expected to lead to elections in February 2024 with a view to returning civilians to power, according to a calendar of consultations. "The electoral college is convened on Sunday, June 18, 2023 throughout the national territory and in the diplomatic and consular missions of the Republic of Mali in order to decide on the draft Constitution," said a decree read on national television by government spokesman Colonel Abdoulaye Maïga. Members of the security forces will vote in advance on June 11, it said.

The referendum was originally scheduled for 19 March but was postponed indefinitely. The military who came to power by force in August 2020 thus missed a first significant deadline and fed doubts about the respect of the entire calendar. The junta played down the delay and said it would live up to its commitments. "Voters will have to answer yes or no to the following question, and I quote: 'Do you approve of the draft Constitution?', end of quote," the spokesman said.

Voters will have the choice between a blank ballot for the yes and a red ballot for the no, the decree states. The campaign will open on June 2 at midnight and end on June 16 at midnight. "The deadline remains the date that we were able to negotiate with ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States) and the head of state is firmly committed to respecting this date" of 2024, said Colonel Maïga as he formalized the postponement of the referendum in March.

Lifting of sanctions

The timetable drawn up by the junta and the commitment to give way in March 2024 after elections in February had convinced ECOWAS in July 2022 to lift a heavy regime of trade and financial sanctions imposed on Mali, a poor and landlocked country, plagued by economic stagnation in addition to insecurity. ECOWAS, which has been facing a series of coups in the sub-region since the first coup by Malian colonels in August 2020, had taken these retaliatory measures in January 2022 when the military planned to hold on for up to five years.

The junta justified the postponement of the referendum by the time needed to install on the territory the representations of the electoral management body and by the desire to popularize the constitutional text. This Constitution is a key element of the vast reform project invoked by the military to justify continuing to govern until 2024. The bill significantly strengthens the power of the president. In the new Constitution, it is the president who "determines the policy of the Nation", and no longer the government; the President appoints the Prime Minister and ministers and terminates their functions. The President may dissolve the National Assembly.

Mali has been plagued since 2012 by jihadist spread and violence of all kinds. The junta pushed French soldiers out in 2022 amid great acrimony and turned militarily and politically to Russia.

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