As expected, incumbent President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta won re-election in the second round on August 12, with 67 percent of the vote, against Soumaïla Cissé. Keïta had several normal incumbent advantages, including universal name recognition ( "In Mali, even the little children know IBK," says Moussa Timbine, the general assembly's vice president and an IBK supporter. ) and solid economic growth , over 5% annually , over the past few years. Instability remains a problem in the country, however. As reported by the NY Times , " Islamist extremist groups and other armed militias operate in Mali; it is the world’s most dangerous assignment for United Nations peacekeepers. ... Mr. Keïta has been in office since his election in 2013, just after a period during which Mali faced an Islamist insurgency, a rebellion by the Tuareg ethnic group, and a military coup. During his tenure, violence and insecurity have spread closer to the capital, Bamako,...
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