Presidential elections were held in Mali on 29 April 2007. Incumbent president Amadou Toumani Touré ran for re-election against seven other candidates and won in the first round with about 71% of the vote.^[1]

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2007 Malian presidential election

← 2002 29 April 2007 2013 →
Turnout	36.24%
Nominee Amadou Toumani Touré Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta Party Independent RPM Popular vote 1,612,912 433,897 Percentage 71.20% 19.15%
Results by region
President before election Amadou Toumani Touré Independent President-elect Amadou Toumani Touré Independent

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The campaign for the election began on 8 April and continued until midnight on 27 April, two days before the elections.^[21] Fodié Touré, the head of the electoral commission, said on 16 April that more than a thousand foreign observers had sought permission to monitor the election.^[22] He said later that 900 observers, from Mali and abroad, had been accredited.^[23]

On 24 April the Front for Democracy and the Republic (FDR), a coalition that included four of the opposition candidates (Keïta, Dramé, Maiga, and Sangaré)^[24][25] and 16 parties^[26] sharply criticized the way the election was being prepared. It alleged serious problems with the electoral list, which it said had been manipulated, and criticized the use of fingerprints on ballot papers and the failure to allow the presence of its representatives when the military votes. The coalition said that the election would not be transparent or credible.^[24] On 28 April local government minister Kafougouna Koné denied the accusation that the government manipulated the electoral list, saying that its problems were due to the lack of information available to the government.^[20]

Prior to the election, Touré was considered likely to win; he ran as an independent but was backed by a coalition, the Alliance for Democracy and Progress, composed of 43 parties. Keïta was considered the strongest opposition candidate.^[25] If no candidate won the election on 29 April, a second round was scheduled for 13 May.^[27]

A day after the elections, a presidential spokesman claimed victory for Touré, while Keïta's campaign director alleged fraud and the FDR claimed there were widespread irregularities. Results accounting for 18.2% of registered voters (including many who did not vote) showed Touré with 61.3% of the vote and Keïta as a distant second with 29.8%. In Bamako, Touré won 54.2% and Keïta won 38.8%;^[28] Touré's lead was bigger in rural areas, where he won about 71% against 18% for Keïta. Voter turnout was placed at 24% in Bamako and 38% in the countryside.^[29]

On 1 May the four FDR candidates, rejecting the official results, said that they would try to have the election annulled.^[30][31] In a statement, Keïta's campaign said that it would release different results.^[32] The FDR withdrew from participation in the national commission for the centralization of the results; it objected to the handling of Bamako's results, saying that it had not been included in part of the validation process and that the results had been released without its approval.^[33] Foreign observers, however, endorsed the election as free and fair. Results reported from 28 out of 49 areas showed Touré with 72% of the vote, while Keïta had 15%.^[34] On 2 May results accounting for 51% of registered voters (including many who did not vote) showed Touré still holding a large lead with 58.3% of the vote against 25% for Keïta.^[35]

According to full provisional results announced on 3 May Touré won the election with 68.31% of the vote (1,563,640 out of 2,288,993 votes) and Keïta took second place with 18.59% (425,609 votes). Dramé was in third place with 2.9% of the vote and Mariko was in fourth with 2.7%. Voter turnout was placed at 36.17%, with 2.3 million out of 6.9 million registered voters participating.^[36] On 4 May slightly different results were announced: 70.89% for Touré (1,622,579 votes), 19.08% for Keïta (436,781 votes), 3.04% for Dramé (69,584 votes) 2.74% for Mariko (62,709 votes), 1.57% for Sangaré (35,951 votes), 1.46% for Maïga (33,366 votes), 0.54% for Diallo (12,326 votes), and 0.30% for Maguiraga (6,857 votes).^[37]

Diallo and Maguiraga accepted Touré's victory on 4 May.^[1] The FDR, however, continued to call on the Constitutional Court to annul the election, describing it as a farce and rejecting the results.^[38]

Final results were announced by the Constitutional Court on 12 May, confirming Touré's victory and slightly raising his vote share to 71.20%.^[1] On 19 May Keïta said that the FDR would abide by the court's decision^[39] and would focus on the July 2007 parliamentary elections. Some observers argued that this concession by the FDR was due to the massive scale of the victory attributed to Touré, which made its own claims appear untenable.^[40] In a press conference on 29 May, Mariko denounced the electoral commission and the Constitutional Court for their handling of the election, saying that the former should be dissolved.^[41] He was also sharply critical of the FDR, in which he did not participate.^[42]

Touré was sworn in for his second term on 8 June 2007.^[43]