Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has suspended a proposed amendment to the country’s constitution that would have given him more powers.
The move reverses an announcement earlier this month that he was determined to get it approved.
Keita’s decision comes after widespread protests against the proposal. Civil society organizations had called for more demonstrations if the project wasn’t withdrawn, saying the changes would grant the president too much power.
The amendment had included the creation of a Senate, and would have enabled the president to appoint the head of the Constitutional Court as well as a third of the Senators.
A 2015 peace accord with armed groups in the north of the country stipulated changes to the constitution to allow a degree of autonomy to regional authorities. Opponents of the referendum also said that the country’s north wasn’t safe enough to hold a fair vote.
The Malian government had initially scheduled to hold the referendum on July 9 2017. But on June 21, in the face of mounting criticism, it announced the ballot would be postponed indefinitely.
On July 5, the opposition won a partial victory in the Constitutional Court, which agreed that the duration of the term of senators designated by the president had to be specified.
But it rejected the opposition’s request to cancel the referendum itself.
