Thousands of security personnel including foreign forces were deployed to keep the peace as voters in Mali went to the polls to select among 24 candidates a president who will lead the country for the next 5years.
 

The presidential election has been markedly peaceful and the process has been very smooth. There has not been any report of significant violations of the electoral and the atmosphere has been very calm.  
 

"We all want peace and we believe this elections is part of the process to bring about positive change in Mali” said Mohammed Diallo, a resident in the capital, Bamako, who queued up early in the morning to cast his vote.
 

About 8.4 million are registered to vote. Presidential candidates include the Incumbent President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, known by his initials IBK, and Soumaïla Cissé, an ex-finance minister who has contested in two previous presidential elections. The winner of the elections is expected solve the country's security problems and end poverty.
 

The first poll results are expected within 48 hours, with official results following on Friday at the latest. If no candidate gains more than 50 percent of the vote, a second round will take place on August 12.
 

Mali has been torn for decades by divisions between its northern Islamic and Arab communities and the African south. Attacks by northern insurgents, backed by regional Islamic groups, surged in early 2012, leading the military to temporarily seize control of the government.