Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06BAMAKO421
2006-04-07 13:27:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Bamako
Cable title:  

ELECTORAL LOSSES AND LOW TURNOUT TRIGGER ANGRY

Tags:  PGOV PREL KDEM PINR ECON ML 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO5951
RR RUEHPA
DE RUEHBP #0421 0971327
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 071327Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY BAMAKO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5231
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHPO/AMEMBASSY PARAMARIBO 0006
RUEHLC/AMEMBASSY LIBREVILLE 0015
UNCLAS BAMAKO 000421 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF, DRL, INR

PARAMARIBO FOR DCM MARY BETH LEONARD
LIBREVILLE FOR POLOFF GLENN FEDZER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM PINR ECON ML
SUBJECT: ELECTORAL LOSSES AND LOW TURNOUT TRIGGER ANGRY
SPEECH BY NATIONAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT

REF: BAMAKO 0401 (NOTAL)

UNCLAS BAMAKO 000421

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF, DRL, INR

PARAMARIBO FOR DCM MARY BETH LEONARD
LIBREVILLE FOR POLOFF GLENN FEDZER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM PINR ECON ML
SUBJECT: ELECTORAL LOSSES AND LOW TURNOUT TRIGGER ANGRY
SPEECH BY NATIONAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT

REF: BAMAKO 0401 (NOTAL)


1. (U) Summary. One week after a poor showing by the Rally
for Mali (RPM) in legislative by-elections, RPM leader and
National Assembly President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita (IBK)
opened the April session of the National Assembly with an
extremely critical speech decrying the state of Malian
democracy. Meanwhile, the Alliance for Democracy in Mali
(ADEMA) party and the Citizen Movement of President Amadou
Toumani Toure (ATT) consolidated their position just days
before the April 9 run-off for the National Assembly seat in
Bamako's fifth district. End Summary.

-------------- ---
IBK: MALI NO LONGER A DEMOCRATIC "SUCCESS STORY"
-------------- ---


2. (U) On April 3, IBK opened the National Assembly's
spring session with a speech questioning Mali's status as a
democratic "success story". With Prime Minister Issoufi
Maiga looking on, IBK argued that voter disinterest during
last week's legislative by-elections posed a threat to
Mali's national unity. "When choices are made by such a
pathetic percentage of the electorate," stated IBK, "it is
difficult to talk about democratic expression...Can we
continue to pretend that we are the champions of democracy
in sub-Saharan Africa when our own system of representation
is so clearly suspect and shaken to its core?"


3. (U) Referring to the March 26 Democracy Day celebrations
that occurred on the same day as the by-elections, IBK
questioned the sincerity of those honoring the "martyrs" of
the 1991 popular uprising that ousted former dictator Moussa
Traore. "How many of the tributes," asked IBK, "were
sincere and in step with the daily behavior of their
authors?"


4. (SBU) Comment: IBK was clearly responding to what
political observers regard as a serious setback for the RPM
following the legislative by-elections in Mopti and Bamako.
While the record low 7% voter participation rate in Bamako
caught all sides of the political spectrum by surprise, the
turnout rate during one off-year by-election is not a
particularly reliable indicator of the state of Malian
democracy. The rather respectable turnout of 38% during the
same elections in Mopti, moreover, render IBK's warnings
about threats to Malian national unity somewhat hollow.
IBK's reference to insincere Democracy Day tributes was
likely directed at Prime Minister Maiga (see Ref A) and
perhaps ATT himself. End comment.

--------------
ATT'S CITIZEN MOVEMENT WEIGHS IN
--------------


5. (U) In Bamako's fifth district, ADEMA reinforced its
position just days before the April 9 legislative run-off by
adding another party to its 22 member coalition. During a
joint press conference with the president of ATT's Citizen
Movement association, ADEMA announced that it has secured
the endorsement of the third place candidate who received
17% of the vote during the first round.


6. (U) The battle between ADEMA and the Union for Republic
and Democracy (URD) in Bamako is striking given the recent
URD-ADEMA alliance in Mopti. According to the president of
ATT's Citizen Movement, Djibril Tangara, the apparent
contradiction is easily explained: the URD opposed the RPM
in Mopti but joined with the RPM in Bamako. "I am not,"
stated Tangara on behalf of the Citizen Movement, "ready to
help someone who is in the parliamentary opposition. Those
who speak against the government are negative. Since the
RPM criticizes the government, the RPM is negative... As a
result, the Citizen Movement cannot support the URD in the
fifth district because the URD is allied with the RPM. In
Mopti, where the URD is positive, it has the support of both
ADEMA and our Movement."

McCulley