Malians prepare to vote under shadow of terror threat

Five years after an international military intervention designed to restore peace, Malians will vote tomorrow with the vast West African nation still confronting the threat of jihadist and ethnic violence.

While polls suggest President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, 71, is favourite to see off 23 rivals in the poll, the main Al-Qaeda-linked jhadist alliance made its presence felt on the final day of campaigning yesterday, dubbing the election a "mirage" that would do nothing for the Malian people.

"These elections are nothing other than the pursuit of a mirage and our peoples will reap nothing but illusions, as they are used to doing," said alliance leader Iyad Ag Ghaly.

Ag Ghaly was the linchpin of the jihadists' operation to take control of much of the north of the country in 2012 who leads the Group to Support Islam and Muslims (GSIM), formed from a merger of several militant groups.

The international community expects the winner to relaunch a peace accord signed in 2015 by the government and mainly Tuareg former rebels but whose application remains out of reach.

Despite the accord, jihadist violence has continued and also spread out from the north towards the centre and south of the country amid repeated states of emergency, the unrest permeating neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Keita's chief rival according to polls is Soumaila Cisse, 68, a former finance and economy minister, who lost by a large margin in the second round in 2013.

Djeneba N'Diaye, who has no political background, is the only female standing, urging voters to give a woman a chance "because the men have failed."