Campaigning for Mali’s presidential elections, due on July 28, began on Sunday, with hopefuls including four former prime ministers and just one woman.

The candidates mostly voiced similar goals, such as rebuilding the country, restoring peace, ensuring security and development, and fighting endemic corruption.

The ballot will be the first since a coup in March last year which ousted the democratically-elected president, just months before he was due to step down at the end of his final term in office.

The transitional government lifted a nearly six-month state of emergency on Saturday so that election campaigning can go ahead.

But critics of the process argue that it is being rushed and, far from restoring democracy, the process could plunge the nation further into chaos.

Source: RFI English

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