Like Nigeria, Mali postpones election for security reasons

Mali has postponed regional and local elections scheduled for April 2015 due to insecurity in the northern part of the country, just like Nigeria did three weeks ago.

Alhousseny Toure, a spokesman for the ministry of territorial administration, said the insecurity has held up the revision of the voters roll.

“The postponement of communal and regional elections is confirmed. There’s no precision of the date but it will be October 25 at the latest,” he said.

According to Reuters, the decision was taken following consultations with opposition parties, which had lobbied for the delay.

It has been almost two years since a French-led operation chased al-Qaeda linked rebels from towns in the northern part of the country.

The deployment of 10,000-strong UN peacekeeping mission helped keep the situation at bay during the 2013 presidential election, which recorded a high turnout.

However, the remnants of the militant and separatist groups have continued to launch attacks in the area.

In February, the Malian government signed a ceasefire deal with rebels in a bid to end a long-running unrest in the country’s north, which makes it surprising to experts that the election was postponed.

Citizens were anticipating the April 2015 election, but their hopes have been dashed again, with the postponement of the local election for the second time.