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A supporter of Mali's presidential candidate Ibrahim Boubacar Keita takes part in a rally on August 9, 2013 in Bamako/AFP

Africa

Mali awaits results in presidential run-off vote

Keita, 68, who is considered the favourite, was more than 20 percentage points ahead of his rival in the first round.

Cisse, 63, had complained about widespread fraud in the first round, while more than 400,000 ballots from a turnout of around 3.5 million were declared spoiled.

Mali’s Constitutional Court rejected the fraud allegations, however, confirming that Keita had won 39.8 percent, while Cisse attracted a 19.7 percent share.

Keita claims to have the support of most of the candidates eliminated in the first round and is backed by Mali’s influential religious establishment, while Cisse has been endorsed by Adema, Mali’s largest political party.

“My first priority would be the reconciliation of the country,” Keita said Friday. “After the trauma that it has suffered, a new start is needed.”

A UN peacekeeping mission integrating more than 6,000 African soldiers was charged with ensuring security on Sunday and in the months after the election. By the end of the year it will have grown to 11,200 troops and 1,400 police.

The country of more than 14 million remains the continent’s third-largest gold producer, but its $10.6 billion economy contracted by 1.2 percent last year. Widespread poverty has contributed to unrest in the north, with several armed groups vying for control in the vacuum left when the Islamists fled.

The region is home predominantly to lighter-skinned Tuareg and Arab populations who accuse the sub-Saharan ethnic groups that live in the more populous and prosperous south of marginalising them.

In the northern districts of Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal, polling took place in an atmosphere of calm, with reports of stronger voter turnout.

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