16.07% of voters turn out for Mali's polls

The Citizens' Electoral Observer Pole (POCE), a platform composed of Malian civil society groups, said on Sunday evening the West African country's second round of legislative elections was held in a satisfactory manner despite a low turnout of 16.07 percent of registered voters. The platform said it had deployed a total of 3,300 national observers and 200 supervisors and coordinators at key points in 45 electoral constituencies where the elections were taking place. POCE said in 89.9 percent of the polling stations, voting ended at exactly 6 p.m. local time and the counting process began immediately. "Generally, voting was conducted in a calm and peaceful environment," POCE's statement said, adding that some anomalies pointed out by its observers were corrected by electoral officials. "The turnout by mid-day was 16.07 percent against 19.23 percent in the first round. But POCE would like to appreciate the peaceful conduct of the elections despite the low turnout," the statement said.