Malian PM Choguel Kokalla Maïga presents 2021-2022 action plan

The Prime Minister addressed the members of the CNT, which currently serves as the Legislative Assembly, in an extraordinary session in Bamako beginning his speech with “a minute of prayer” in memory of all the victims, Malian and foreign, of the crisis.

Then he paid tribute to “the forces of change”: the M5, the heterogeneous movement composed of political parties, unions and civil society organizations, which he spearheaded, and “the security forces”.

“Because elections are a process and not the final destination, we must work to rehabilitate them and make them credible,” he said.

“This is the meaning of the choice to be made by the government to institute in our country a single body for the management of elections. This is a persistent demand, expressed for decades by the political class and the civil society as a whole.” Maiga stressed.

Political factions in Mali and foreign partners have been watching to see if the military-led interim authorities will stick to a promise to hold elections within 18 months since a junta toppled President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in August 2020.