Mali's presidential election will go to a second round on August 11, the government said Friday, after no candidate secured a majority in the landmark poll. Figures for Sunday's ballot announced on live television showed former prime minister Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in the lead with 39.2 percent of the vote, ahead of main rival Soumaila Cisse with 19.4 percent.
The election is seen as key to Mali's recovery after a coup in March last year overthrew Amadou Toumani Toure, plunging one of the region's most stable democracies into political crisis and leading to an Islamist insurgency. As hard-line al Qaeda allies took control of the country's vast desert north, and threatened to extend their often violent rule, former colonial power France launched a military offensive in January to drive out the Islamist fighters.
"The new Mali is being built with patience, calm and serenity for all Malians united around these challenges above ambitions and pretensions, and not in a climate of agitation and invective..." Keita, 68, tweeted in his latest campaign update ahead of the announcement.
Four former prime ministers and an array of political heavyweights - but just one woman - featured in a list of 27 presidential hopefuls, although analysts always characterised the election as a two-horse race between Keita and Cisse. Dramane Dembele, the candidate for Mali's largest political party, the Alliance for Democracy in Mali, polled just 9.6 percent, taking third place.
Analysts believe Dembele's votes and those of fourth placed candidate Modibo Sidibe, making a total of 14.5 percent, are likely to be transferred to Cisse in the run-off. This means the backing of the also-rans - who garnered more than 25 percent between them - will be crucial.