Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has been re-elected for a five-year term after winning a landslide in a runoff ballot, according to official figures Thursday. The elections have been closely watched abroad, as Mali is a linchpin state in the jihadist insurgency raging in the Sahel. Keita, 73, picked up 67.17 percent of the vote on Sunday against 32.83 for opposition challenger and former finance minister Soumaila Cisse, 68, who also ran against Keita in 2013, the government announced. Turnout was low, at 34.5%.
"I thank you from the bottom of my heart for putting your trust in me once more," Keita said on his Facebook page. But Cisse's party angrily vowed to contest the results, using "all democratic means."