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afrol News, 30 April - On the counting of the preliminary votes, no single candidate has yet emerged as a clear favourite in last Sunday's presidential poll in Mali. The results from abroad have so far been to the advantage of former President, General Amadou Toumani Tourè and former Prime Minister Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, with the first mentioned in a marked lead. In Mali however there are some indications that the ruling ADEMA party's candidate, Soumaila Cissé, has caught up with both the above mentioned candidates, namely Keïta end Touré. However, results are so far available from only 19 of the 703 electoral districts. The remaining results are temporarily in suspense as result of a car accident. The unfortunate driver was a computer technician; a rather vital one it seems, him being the only person with the password to access the election centre's computers. Reportedly he is recovering, though. Soumaila Cissé is the official candidate of the government party Alliance for Malian Democracy (ADEMA). Cissé resigned from his post as Infrastructure Minister to be able to contest the poll, following the regulations of Mali's electoral rules. With the support of ADEMA, Cissé has managed to arrange the most costly and visible election campaign throughout Mali. General Amadou Toumani Touré is a popular person in Mali. Touré restored democracy in 1992, after he had disposed of military dictator Moussa Traoré in a coup. Heading a transitional committee, Touré helped prepare the first democratic elections in Mali's history in 1992, where incumbent President Konaré first came to power. This is the first time Touré runs for a public office. Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, the most profiled opposition candidate, is one of Mali's richest men and leader of the Rally for Mali (RPM) party, founded by him only last year. Keïta is an old colleague of Cissé, being Mali's Prime Minister between 1994 and 2000, before he broke with ADEMA to found his own party. Two of these three men will most probably have to fight a second poll round after the much anticipated publishing of the election results. By Knut Henrik Gjone, afrol News
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