Chamber:
	Assemblée Nationale
Dates of elections / renewal (from/to):
	14 July 2002
Purpose of elections:
	Elections were held for all seats in the National Assembly on the normal expiry of the members' term of office.
Background and outcome of elections:
	Two months after the presidential elections won by General Amadou Toumain Touré, Malian citizens went to the polls on 14 July 2002 to elect the 147 members of parliament. The new President, who does not belong to any political party, had always said that he would govern with the majority that would emerge from the future National Assembly. The campaign for the legislative elections, which began on 22 June 2002 for the some 1,000 candidates vying for seats in the National Assembly, did not arouse great enthusiasm. The dull climate and lack of major electoral events during the three-week campaign were mainly due to the fact that political parties were short on funds after the president election. A few days before the legislative elections, the department organising the elections announced that some 55,000 voter cards had disappeared from Bamako district, the capital of the country. Some of the cards turned up on election day and around thirty persons were arrested for having tried to vote with stolen cards. Four of the six mayors of Bamako were suspended for three months as a result of the affair. The elections took place in a climate of calm with polling booths anything but crowded. According to the official results, no party or alliance obtained an absolute majority. The Rally for Mali (RPM) of former Prime Minister Ibrahim Boubacar Kéita came in first with 46 seats, as against 45 for the Alliance for Democracy in Mali (ADEMA, the outgoing majority). As far as alliances were concerned, the opposition coalition "Hope 2002", led by the RPM, won 66 seats as compared with 51 for its rival, the Alliance for the Republic and Democracy (ARD), led by ADEMA. In addition, five Malian political parties, avowed supporters of President Amadou Toumani Touré grouped together within the Alliance for Alternation and Change (ACC), took 10 seats in all, while independent candidates and the African Solidarity for Democracy and Independence (SADI) party won six seats each. The Constitutional Court nullified the results in the electoral districts of Sikasso in the south and Tine-Essako in the north, a decision which affected eight seats in all, on grounds of "procedural flaws" and "massive fraud", respectively. The legislative by-elections which took place on 20 October 2002 were won by ADEMA. On 16 September 2002, former Prime Minister Mali, Mr. Ibrahim Boubacar Kéita, was elected Speaker of the National Assembly.

STATISTICS

Round no 1: Distribution of seats
Political Group	Total
Espoir 2002	66
Alliance for the Republic and Democracy (ARD)	59
The "Alternance et changement" coalition (ACC)	10
African Solidarity for Democracy and Independence (SADI)	6
Independents	6

Distribution of seats according to sex:
Men:	132
Women:	15
Percent of women:	10.20 %