Malian political parties, fearing their dissolution by the ruling junta, are raising their voices despite a crackdown on dissent and a shrinking civic space.
The military announced on Wednesday the repeal of a charter which sets out the creation and function of political parties, in what legal experts said could be another move towards scrapping them entirely.
The decision comes after a national consultation organised by the junta recommended the dissolution of parties and tougher rules about founding them.
“In Mali, we have fought to obtain democracy and we are not going to sit idly by,” said Oumar Mariko, an exiled opposition politician.
‘Bitter pill’
The consultation, attended by junta supporters but boycotted by most political parties, also proposed making junta chief General Assimi Goita president for a renewable five-year term without an election this year.
“The mask is slipping. It’s clear that the military intends to stay in power. Democracy is a bitter pill for them,” said Mariko.
Since successive coups in 2020 and 2021 brought the military to power, opposition parties have faced threats, legal action, disbandment and pressure to unite around the junta to fight the scourge of jihadist violence.
But in recent weeks about 100 political parties have formed a coalition to confront what they see as the junta’s clear intention to dissolve them entirely.
In a rare public statement, the coalition last Saturday accused the authorities of wanting to scrap them. A large police presence was on hand to monitor their meeting.
Consolidation of power
Freedom of expression and to form parties were enshrined in Mali’s constitution in 1992, when the country returned to civilian rule.
The junta announced a new constitution in 2023 with the same principles.
“The spirit of this constitution is now called into question by consultations which are effectively controlled and guided by the current authorities,” said Gilles Yabi, founder of the west African think-tank Wathi.
“If the authorities want to be in total violation of that same constitution, then we will have the right not to recognise the current government and to demand the departure of the transitional president,” said Boukary Dicko, from the Yelema party.
Yabi assessed that Mali had “entered a new phase of consolidation of military power”, mirroring other juntas in the Sahel region.
Neighbours Niger and Burkina Faso are run by military juntas which came to power since 2023. The three nations are now part of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
Human rights organisations accuse them all of suppressing dissent on the pretext of battling jihadists.
Despite the risk of reprisals, Mali’s political class has spoken out to avoid completely disappearing, as parties have in Burkina Faso and Niger.
“It’s partly linked to the political history of each of these countries but also to the harshness of the three regimes, which are all harsh but in different ways,” said Yabi.
If the Malian junta adopts the national consultation’s recommendations, and the dissolution of political parties, opposition groups intend to appeal to the constitutional court.
“If by chance the constitutional court doesn’t want to know, then we will have no choice but to demand the dissolution of the court,” said Dicko.
UN Human Rights on Thursday spoke out against the changes, writing on X that “a bill to reform political parties may, if adopted, result in the severe curtailing of political activities as well as of civic and democratic space generally.”
