Mali's military junta has been in power for five years — now it wants to extend its rule on a more permanent basis: The current interim president, General Assimi Goita, has won the backing of central allies to be declared president, without democratic elections, until 2030. This would be the equivalent to a five-year extension of his term.

This was the outcome of a "national conference" that was organized by the regime in Mali's capital Bamako, and boycotted by the opposition. More than 400 delegates voted in favor of a draft law that would dissolve the 2005 Political Parties Charter, which sets out the rules for the founding, funding and management of parties.

Limiting number of political parties to 5

The conference proposed limiting the number of parties permitted in Mali to five and tightening the conditions for founding new parties. In future, 100 million CFA francs (ca. €52,000 or $174,000) would have to be raised. According to reports, it was suggested that the fee to stand as a presidential candidate should be 250 million CFA francs.

Nouhoum Togo, the president of the USR (Union to save the republic) party, believes this would be disastrous: "You shouldn't compare the coup-hit countries Niger and Burkina Faso with Mali," he told DW. "Because they have no constitution, unlike Mali, which has a constitution that protects political parties. There is no example in the world where you have to raise 100 million CFA francs to found a political party."

According to the conference in Bamako, an end should also be put to "political nomadism," that is changing party affiliation during a term in office.

Amnesty International has condemned the move as a "proposal to dissolve all political parties in Mali." Ousmane Diallo, a senior researcher at the human rights organization's regional office for West and Central Africa, said it "would be a flagrant attack on the rights to freedom of expression and association."

'A disaster for Mali'

Boulan Baro, a member of the CNID-Faso Yiriwa Ton party of former minister Mountaga Tall, spoke of an attempt at manipulation: "It is as if a legal vacuum were being created that will not foster the organization, functioning and activities of political parties."

The draft is supposed to be submitted soon to the National Transitional Council, which the junta set up after its 2020 and 2021 coups. Since then, the army has ruled the country, which was destabilized by several Islamist attacks, with an iron fist. In June 2022, the junta had announced a return to civilian rule by March 2024, but it then postponed the elections for "technical reasons." In April of last year, all political activities were banned.

Mali's political parties have reacted with indignation to planned changes and denounced the junta's repressive measures. "These consultations are not representative of the Malian people because we ourselves, who represent the political parties, did not participate in this meeting," Abdoulaye Yaro, chief of staff of former Prime Minister Moussa Mara's Yelema party, told the US news agency Associated Press this week. He said that implementing the recommendations would be "a disaster for Mali."

'It is up to the president to protect the Constitution'

According to Yelema spokesperson Hamidou Doumbia, the results of the "National Conference" violate the Malian constitution, which was adopted by the transitional government in July 2023. "A few people gathered in a room cannot give a mandate to a president. That has never been seen. As for the dissolution of political parties, there is no legal document, Malian law does not allow this," he told DW, saying that the recommendations were "anti-constitutional."

"The president is the guarantor of the constitution, and it is up to him to protect the constitution," he concluded.

Many opposition parties fear that Mali's military-led government — like its West African allies in Niger and Burkina Faso — will try to strengthen its already harsh crackdown on political dissent.

Yet, the existence of political parties was enshrined in the Malian constitution of 1992, well before the 2005 Charter of Politcal Parties, which is now to be dissolved, was established.

'Attempt to attack democracy'

"We know what the aspiration behind this is," said Mohamed Cherif Coulibaly, the head of the national youth movement of the Alliance for Democracy in Mali – African Party for Solidarity and Justice (ADEMA PASJ). "This is why the political parties have long joined forces to oppose what is currently being prepared, which, for us, constitutes a simple attempt to attack the democracy that was so boldly obtained by the Malian people after the popular revolution of March 1991.

Former minister Mohamed Salia Toure, who served in the first transitional government from September 2020 to May 2021, said that the abolition of the multi-party system would be a "historic mistake."

From Mali, Mahamadou Kane contributed to this article, which was translated from German.