Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy

The parties called for a unique and permanent body charged with the preparation, organisation and monitoring of the election. Currently, three institutions are involved in Mali’s electoral management process and the electoral commission only has a temporal mandate. Almost all major parties signed the statement and indicated that it can now be published in the weeks to come.

Next, the Malian parties will consult the Ministry of Home Affairs, civil society organisations and other stakeholders to jointly reflect on the exact nature, mandate and composition of such structure. A platform setup by President Amadou Toumani Toure which currently assesses the major weaknesses of Malian democracy is also expected to propose amendments to the electoral management system. Because of time constraints, it is however expected that changes will only be implemented after the 2009 local elections. 
 
 
Public debates
 
In preparation for the 2009 local elections, NIMD and the Malian political parties frequently organise regional debates between party representatives, civil society organisations and civil servants on issues relevant to the population in the respective region. The results of these debates are published and parties are assisted to integrate elements of these reports within their campaign plans. In addition, national television debates are financed as to offer parties the opportunity to express their positions.

During the Round Table conference it was agreed to organize the debates in the main local language Bambara rather than French and to make a better use of regional and local radio stations in order to better reach out to the public. ‘We are currently debating issues of national interest in a language that the majority of the population does not even understand. How do you think we will ever improve our relation with them and increase popular confidence in our performance if we continue along this road?’ as one of the politicians stated.
 
 
Women in Malian politics
 
Last year Malian parties expressed the ambition to improve the inclusion of women within their parties and prioritised the issue for the year 2008. But subsequent to the lack of political will to adopt a 30% quota as was presented to Parliament in 2006 as well as the poor track records of parties during the recent parliamentarian elections (only 15 out of 147 members of parliament are female), NIMD insisted to take sufficient time to develop a realistic strategy during the first months of 2008.

As a result, three expert meetings were organised between senior male representatives and female councillors, with female parliamentarians and with female members of the National Executive Committees of the main parties.

The consultative conference with female parliamentarians took place the day prior to the Round Table. Malian parliamentarians and their male colleagues identified the major internal and external obstacles to female representation in politics and proposed a number of solutions including an amendment to the electoral system in favour of women, limiting the amount of funds to be spent during campaigns, training of women candidates, presence of women in all party commissions and awareness raising activities.

Ms. Esther de Lange (Euro-MP of the Dutch Christian Democrats) presented a wide range of European experiences and possible measures to be taken. ‘Some of the challenges Malian women face are quite similar to those in various European countries, notably shyness of starting female politicians, practical difficulties related to the timing of political meetings and the importance of the electoral system in place. But whereas discussions on quota for women in Europe are based on ideological differences, in Mali it is mostly men and women who tend to disagree on the need for such measures.’

After the main political elements of the fruitful cooperation between Malian and Dutch political parties had been discussed Thijs Berman (Euro-MP for the Dutch Labour Party) concluded by saying: ‘It is a privilege for me to witness the constructive atmosphere and dialogue between the Malian parties. Your self-critical attitude is also remarkable and inspiring. I am convinced that you will all, step by step, strengthen your democracy through this programme. Parties in the Netherlands also continuously face challenges and democracy is a process that needs constant attention everywhere in the world. I feel proud that, as an organisation of Dutch political parties, we can contribute to your efforts in this area.’

- Article by Martin van Vliet, NIMD Political Advisor Africa of the Dutch Christian Democrats -