Mali election: Ibrahim Boubacar Keita wins presidential poll in second round

Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has won Mali’s presidential election after his rival Soumaila Cisse admitted defeat in the second round.

Ex-Finance Minister Soumaila Cisse said he had congratulated Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and wished him good luck, AFP reported.

Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, 68, served as prime minister from 1994 to 2000.

Mali has suffered a year of unrest including a military coup and a French-led military intervention to oust Islamist rebels from the north.

No official results have yet been released following Sunday’s runoff, however, reports had put Ibrahim Boubacar Keita well ahead.

In the first round Soumaila Cisse polled just 19% against Ibrahim Boubacar Keita’s 40% and most of the other candidates then gave Keita their endorsements.

Ibrahim Boubacar Keita – known as IBK – will now oversee more than $4 billion in foreign aid promised to rebuild the West African state.

A 12,600-strong United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Mali (Minusma) is currently deploying, as France begins to withdraw its 3,000 troops.

After the first round Soumaila Cisse had complained of widespread fraud, with more than 400,000 ballots declared spoiled.

However, Mali’s Constitutional Court rejected the allegations and the head of the EU election observer mission, Louis Michel, praised the electoral process for its transparency.

On Monday, observers from the EU and the African Union again praised the way the second round was carried out.

“Malians should be congratulated because it seems to me they are regaining control of their democratic destiny, which is in fact nevertheless a tradition that exists in Mali,” said Louis Michel.