BAMAKO, Mali: The 68-year-old former Malian Prime Minister Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has won the country’s presidential election after his rival Soumaila Cisse conceded defeat in the second round.
“I went to see him (Keita) to congratulate him and wish him good luck for Mali,” a foreign news ageny quoted Cisse, 63, as saying on Monday.
No official results have yet been released, but the electoral and security sources said Keita, also known as IBK, had pulled ahead with two-thirds of votes counted.
“With nearly two-thirds of the ballots counted, IBK is well ahead,” said a source close to Mali’s election commission, which helped organize the polls.
On Sunday, Malians went to the polls, the first since 2007, to choose between Keita and Cisse.
Keita had won 40 percent of the votes in the first round.
