Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta suggested Tuesday that he could appoint recently losing parliamentary candidates as senators, officials said, in a bid to restore stability after weeks of mounting political contestation.
The move comes after two mass rallies in the West African state last month, organised by a newly galvanised political opposition movement, and increasing hostility in Mali towards President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.
Thousands of protesters marched in the capital Bamako in June, venting frustration over the slow pace of political reforms, perceptions of widespread corruption, and routine violence.
Mali has struggled to contain a jihadist insurgency that first broke out in 2012, and which has claimed thousands of lives and forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes since.
But recent demonstrations also followed anti-government protests in May, over March’s parliamentary poll.
In April, Mali’s constitutional court overturned the results for some 30 seats, triggering protests in several cities.
And in a move that rankled many in the poor Sahel nation of some 19 million people, a Keita loyalist who won a seat because of that decision was elected president of the parliament.
On Tuesday, Keita met a group of political candidates whose election wins in March had been overturned, in a bid to defuse tensions.
According to several meeting attendees, and Mali’s presidency officials, he suggested appointing some of the former candidates as senators.
Candidates interviewed by AFP after the meeting said they were not interested in senate seats, however.
“We are the defrauded candidates,” said Ibrahim Kebe, whose initial parliamentary-election win was overturned by the constitutional court.
“We want nothing else but our seats as MPs,” he added.
Adama Diarra, another candidate whose result was overturned, agreed.
“We told the president we are not interested in the senate,” he said.
