Tyson's ECOWAS Occasional Journal - Politics in West Africa

The recent re-election of President  Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, age 73, in Mali reminds me that ECOWAS has more than its share of elderly presidents in the world.  Six years ago Todd Moss and  Stephanie  Majerowicz of the Center for Global Development noted that Sub-Saharan African countries tend to have a larger gap between the president's age and the median age of its citizens, relative to other countries; 8 of the top 10 biggest gaps were in Africa. They speculated that large such gaps could lead to public anger, protests, and government turnover. They noted that that  President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, at 85, was 66 years older than the median Senegalese, and seemed out of touch, and that Hosni Mubarak of Egypt was 59 years older than the median Egyptian at the time that public protests led to his overthrow. In the case of Zimbabwe, this speculation was prescient - the largest gap in the world was Robert Mugabe, 69 years older than the median Zimbabwean, and indeed public pro

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, with conflict

Mali held its 8th presidential election on July 29 and the runoff will be held on August 12. Mali became independent in 1960 and democratized in 1991. The first two presidential elections were single-party affairs; the first multiparty election was held in 1992. A month before the 2012 elections, the government was toppled by a coup by an army frustrated by the rebellion in the north. Following French intervention , the Malian government regained (a semblance of) control over the north and multiparty elections were back on track in 2013, and Ibrahim Boubacar Keita won the presidency in the second round. In the run up to last month's election, security remained a concern , grievances in the north remain, and there were questions about the electoral register and resources for voting operations . The incumbent won 41% in the first round , and will go up against Soumaïla Cissé. This will be Cissé's third runoff - he made the second round in 2003 and 2013 but has not yet