Overview

• A national conference in Bamako has formally recommended naming junta leader Assimi Goita as president with a renewable five-year mandate.
• The conference also proposed dissolving all existing political parties and imposing stricter conditions for forming new ones.
• Political parties have denounced the recommendations as unconstitutional, claiming they were excluded from the dialogue process.
• The recommendations are expected to be implemented in the coming days, further consolidating military control over Mali’s political landscape.
• This marks the latest step in the junta’s prolonged delay of elections initially promised for February 2022, raising concerns over democratic backsliding in the Sahel region.