Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has won the country’s election runoff by a landslide 67 percent of votes against opposition rival Soumaila Cisse.
The election run-off, which was marred by militant attacks, claims of fraud and internet shutdown, had a low turnout of 2.7 million people, about 34 percent of the registered voters.
“I am very happy, there is nothing to say, the gap is huge, the opposition must understand that there is no match. He has another five years, he will make Mali an emerging country,” says Tambours Adizatou Sogoba, a happy supporter of the president who told Reuters after the declaration of results on Thursday.
“The result does not reflect the truth of the polls, it does not reflect the Malian vote,” says Tiebele Drame, campaign manager of opposition candidate Cisse who has accused the ruling party of vote rigging and manipulation.
International observers including the European Union have acknowledged irregularities but declared that there was no evidence of fraud.
Boubacar Keita has five more years to address the issues of insecurity, attacks by jihadists, corruption and poverty.
