Mali Votes Amid Coronavirus, Security Fears

Just hours after Mali recorded its first death from coronavirus, Malians have headed to the polls for a long-delayed parliamentary election amid security and coronavirus fears on Sunday

The leading opposition figure was kidnapped and believed to be in the hands of jihadists

There were security fears about the vote even before the war-torn West African country recorded its first coronavirus infection on Wednesday.

Some 200,000 people displaced by the near-daily violence in Mali’s centre and north will not be able to vote, because “no mechanism has been established” for them to do so, a government official said.

There were also fears that the impoverished state of some 19 million people — where large swathes of territory lie outside state control — is particularly exposed to a COVID-19 outbreak.

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Late Saturday, just hours before polls were scheduled to open at 0800 GMT Sunday, the country’s first coronavirus death was announced, with the number of infections rising to 18.

The poll will see new MPs elected to the 147-seat National Assembly for the first time since 2013 when President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita’s Rally for Mali party won a substantial majority.

Parliamentary elections were meant to take place again in late 2018 following Keita’s re-election, but the poll was postponed several times, largely due to security concerns.

After Sunday’s first-round vote, a second round is scheduled for April 19.