Abdoulaye Maiga, the spokesperson for the junta-led Mali government, announced on Monday the postponement of the two rounds of voting initially set for February 4 and 18, 2024, in Mali.
In a statement released on Monday in Mali, Maiga attributed the postponement to “technical reasons”, adding that “those reasons include issues linked to the adoption this year of a new constitution and a review of the electoral lists.”
Also, he stated that a dispute with the French company Idemia, which the Malian junta says is involved in the census process, necessitated the postponement.
“The new dates for the presidential election will be communicated later,” the Mali spokesman said.
The junta is also refusing to organise legislative elections, initially scheduled for the end of 2023, before the presidential election.
The junta “has decided to organise, exclusively, the presidential election,” the statement said.
Other elections, according to the statement, will be held on a schedule “established by the new authorities, under the directives of the new president.”
The postponement is a further blow to the junta’s plan to transfer control to elected civilians.
The troops, who staged two coups in 2020 and 2021, had previously pledged legislative elections in February 2022.
However, the junta, led by Assimi Goita, said at the end of 2021 that it would be unable to adhere to the timeframe agreed upon with the regional body, ECOWAS.
The statement on Monday made no note of recent security developments, just stating that junta head Goita intended “to return to a peaceful and secure constitutional order, after carrying out, as a priority, institutional political reforms.”
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
