Now the junta rule is facing a do-or-die situation, Mali’s political parties requested for elections.

Mali’s political parties have asked for a deadline for presidential elections, as the junta in power has not been able to hold elections within the 24-month period allotted for the return to democracy. Military administration began in Mali in August 2020, following eight coups spanning four years in West and Central Africa, including its two neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger. Regional groups are attempting to negotiate transfers, but the temporary administration is taking too long.

After taking over the country in a second coup in 2021, the current junta in Mali later announced that it would take 24 months, starting in March 2022, to restore civil rights. Elections are to be held on 26 February. It enacted a new electoral law in June 2022, but announced in September last year that February’s elections would be postponed for technical reasons, sparking anger among political parties.

After the change date passed without a vote last month, many people responded again. Several of Mali’s major political parties and civil society organizations urged authorities to quickly set up an institutional framework for elections in a joint statement issued late Sunday. We will use all legal and legitimate avenues to return to normal constitutional order in our country,” he said in the statement, which has more than 20 signatories, including a major opposition coalition and the ousted former president’s party.