The 2002 presidential election marked a milestone in Mali's democratic development, as one democratically elected president handed power over to another democratically elected president for the first time in the country's history. During that election and in the immediate post election period, President Touré benefited from wide support from all Malian parties under what is known as the "political consensus."
In 2007, Mali again held democratic elections, with a presidential election in April and parliamentary elections in July. Despite earlier concerns that opposition parties would reject the results with claims of large scale fraud, elections were peaceful, and the results were widely accepted. Approximately 35 percent of Mali’s 6.8 million registered voters participated in the presidential election; a turnout similar to previous elections in Mali. President Amadou Toumani Touré was reelected in the first round with more than 71 percent of the votes. The Alliance for Democracy and Progress (ADP), the coalition of parties that supported his campaign, also won the largest number of seats in the new National Assembly with 90 of the 147 seats. Unlike the former legislature, however, the new Assembly includes a declared opposition.
The new National Assembly, which is comprised of 15 different political parties – including 24 independent members and 15 women members - faces numerous challenges. Among them is the need for further economic development and the urgent need to find a sustainable solution to the Touareg rebellion.
Current Activities
Safeguarding Election Results and Transparent Election Processes
NDI is currently finishing a United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded program to strengthen the Malian political parties’ ability to safeguard the 2007 electoral process and identify ways to improve future election procedures. Prior to the April election, NDI was able to distribute 30,000 pollwatcher manuals and monitoring forms to more than 40 parties. In addition, NDI trained 507 party pollwatcher-trainers. Before the July legislative elections, NDI trained 470 new poll-watcher trainers nationwide. In September, the Institute began a series of roundtable discussions to help Malian leaders reflect on the election process and develop recommendations to improve future elections.
Technical Support for Women in Politics
With funding from the Embassy of Denmark in Mali, NDI is providing technical assistance to the Coordinating Group of Women’s Associations and NGOs of Mali (CAFO) and the Group Pivot (a women civic group). NDI’s specific objective is to strengthen the capacity of CAFO and GP to promote greater participation by women in the 2007 legislative elections and in the 2009 local elections.
Prior to the July legislative elections, NDI provided technical assistance to the two women’s groups to help them organize a series of voter education caravans which traveled the country to encourage women to vote. Most recently, NDI has assisted CAFO and GP in hosting a roundtable evaluation of the caravans, in which participants made recommendations on how to improve future civic education campaigns. NDI also assisted CAFO and GP in organizing and facilitating an orientation session for women legislators in advance of the National Assembly’s opening session. The orientation increased the confidence of women parliamentarians and provided them the knowledge and tools needed to advocate for a greater role in the new legislature. With assistance from NDI, CAFO and GP continue to work with women legislators to promote their role in the legislative process.
Strengthening the capacities of Malian political parties
With funding from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), NDI is also implementing a program in Mali that aims to provide political parties with useful tools and techniques to develop issue-based messages and communicate with their constituencies in a more effective way. Under this program, NDI conducted a series of message-development and communication workshops, as well as a political party forum in Bamako. The workshops provided party members with valuable insights on best practices for developing a political message, and the forum presented an opportunity for party leaders to communicate with their members at various levels to prepare their messages in advance to the forum.
Recent Activities
In December 2006, NDI concluded a political party strengthening program in Mali. Through this program, the Institute enhanced Malian party leaders' awareness and understanding of models for internal party development and best practices for representing citizen interests. The program also improved their understanding of their role in safeguarding the 2007 electoral process. NDI facilitated multiple inter-party discussion sessions on issues of national interest and organized training sessions on internal party democracy using NDI's triangle of political party best practices. As a result, Malian parties began to incorporate some of the best practices into their daily functions and regular meetings. Political parties have also committed to work with their members at the local level to develop and articulate policy positions on issues of national concern. NDI's work in Mali also helped Malian parties to negotiate and adopt a code of conduct and to gain a better understanding of the new Malian election law.
NDI concluded its regional women’s program in September, 2007. Since 2005, this pilot program – which covered Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Senegal – has been successful in helping women share their knowledge, resources, and experiences of increasing women's participation in political processes. NDI convened a regional women's conference in Bamako and conducted targeted skills trainings for selected women in each of the four countries. The Institute created a directory of organizations in the four countries that promote women’s political participation and is currently in the process of distributing copies of this directory to organizations in the four countries.
NDI in Mali
Since 1996, NDI has provided technical assistance to electoral reform, voter education, and domestic elections observation while working to promote inter-party dialogue and women's political participation. In 1999, NDI collaborated with women political leaders to publish the success stories of 20 Malian women political activists, to educate and encourage women party members to participate more actively in politics.
In preparation for the 2002 general elections, NDI worked to strengthen the capacity of political parties to monitor the electoral process by publishing over 30,000 copies of a country-specific monitoring guide, and training over 1,100 party agent trainers from more than 30 parties. In September 2002, NDI conducted a two-part program of technical assistance for the Malian National Assembly. The first component focused on strengthening the capacity of women deputies to serve as effective representatives and models for women's leadership. The second component of NDI's program included a series of conferences and roundtables to identify ways for the legislature and Supreme Court to fight corruption.
In preparation for the May 2004 local elections, NDI trained over 1,000 women candidates in seven of Mali's eight regional capitals and their surroundings and created and widely distributed a training manual for women candidates.
NDI’s programs in Mali are funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Embassy of Denmark, and the Embassy of Canada.
Contact Information
For further information on our programs in Mali, please contact:
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