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Mali: Keita wins presidential election – Opponent Cisse concedes defeat
Mali President-elect Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. PHOTO/File
Former Prime Minister Ibrahim Boubacar Keita won Mali’s presidency after his opponent conceded defeat late Monday in an election aimed at restoring stability to a country wracked by a coup and an al-Qaeda-linked Islamist insurgency.
Soumalia Cisse’s concession allows Mali to move ahead with establishing a democratically elected government.
Keita, 68, had been expected to win the runoff easily, having pulled nearly 40 percent of the vote in the first round. Most of the other candidates from the first round had given their endorsements to Keita, who has had a long career in Malian government.
Cisse paid a visit to Keita’s home late Monday along with his wife and family to deliver his concession in person. In an exchange broadcast on the private Malian television station Africable, Cisse told Keita he had come “to congratulate you and wish you all the success you deserve; a success for our country so that you can have the strength to take up the enormous challenges that await you.”
“That is a symbol of the new Mali,” Keita later told Africable, adding: “I am full of emotion.”
“It’s a democratic act that shows that whatever the circumstances, all Malians are from the same family,” said Issouf Traore, 28, who voted for Keita. “This act will serve as a lesson to young Malian politicians but this gesture shows above all else that Soumalia Cisse is going to work together with Keita to restore the state, and bring peace and development.”
Keita ran for the presidency in the two previous elections of 2002 and 2007. He also served as foreign minister and National Assembly speaker during his long tenure in Malian government.
