The
ambition of Hon. Haïdara Aissata Cissé to run for the President of the Pan African Parliament (PAP) in
May 2021 appear to have suffered another setback following the announcement by
Mali’s Transitional Government that presidential and parliamentary elections
would hold on February 27, 2022.
The
implication of this development is that Hon.
Cisse’s membership of the Transitional
National Council (CNT) would end by the end of the year.
Under
the Rules of the Pan African Parliament,
members going for elections back home are required to vacate their seats at PAP and be sworn in if re-elected. Hon. Cisse had vacated her position as
the Second Vice President at PAP for
election back in Mali in March 2020. She won re-election but the military coup
in August 2020 resulted in the takeover of the government and the dissolution
of the elected parliament. She is yet to return or be sworn in at PAP since then.
This announcement
of the February 2022 election is compounded by reports that the Pan African Parliament may reject Mali delegation following a similar treatment by the ECOWAS
Parliament which argued that the National
Transitional Council (CNT), the body entrusted with legislative power in
Mali was not elected but appointed by the military.
According to reports, the President of the Transition, by decree
No 2021_0001 / PT-RM of January 04, 2021, confirmed the appointment of Hon. Cisse as a member of the CNT. She replaced Imam Oumarou Diarra, an influential member of the M5-RFP who resigned from the CNT.
Following her
appointment to the CNT, Hon. Cisse immediately announced her candidacy for the
Presidency of the Pan-African Parliament. According to a statement she released
on January 4, 2021, the declaration was “In order to
continue my mandate and make my candidacy as President of the Pan-African
Parliament reality, I have just been appointed to the CNT”.
African Parliamentary News recalls that on
August 18, 2020 young military officers overthrew Mali’s elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita after a wave of
protests.
Parliamentary
elections had been held in March and April 0920. Popular unrest began on June
5, 2020 following alleged irregularities in the parliamentary elections.
Faced
with international sanctions, the military officers handed over to a caretaker
government which promised to organize elections within eighteen months.
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