Mali opposition 'won't accept fiddled results'

The Malian opposition leader, Soumaïla Cissé, says he will reject the forthcoming results of Sunday's presidential run-off against incumbent President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta.

Speaking yesterday in the capital, Bamako, he said there had been fraud during the poll and called on Malians to rise up:

We will no longer accept results that have been fiddled with, we will no longer accept lies, we will no longer accept tampering, we will no longer accept buying of conscience, we say no to the dictatorship of fraud, Mali will not be built on fraud, we will not accept that a Malian president be elected by fraud."

Election observers from the AU however say voting has been carried out "in acceptable conditions" with "no tangible element" of irregularities, AFP news agency reports. While the EU has yet to present its preliminary findings, AFP quotes observers as saying no "major incidents" have occurred in any of the 300 polling stations they visited.

It is the second time that former finance minister Mr Cissé, 68, is facing incumbent President Keïta, 73, in a presidential run-off vote.

Security has been a key concern because jihadists, Tuareg separatists and ethnic clashes have left the country chronically insecure. Despite taking extra precautions, Sunday's vote saw one poll worker killed and hundreds of stations closed due to insecurity.