Page "History of Mali" Paragraph 25

Konaré stepped down after his constitutionally mandated limit of two terms and did not run in the 2002 elections.

Touré then reemerged, this time as a civilian.

Running as an independent on a platform of national unity, Touré won the presidency in a runoff against the candidate of Adema, which had been divided by infighting and suffered from the creation of a spin-off party, the Rally for Mali.

Touré had retained great popularity because of his role in the transitional government in 1991 – 92.

The 2002 election was a milestone, marking Mali's first successful transition from one democratically elected president to another, despite the persistence of electoral irregularities and low voter turnout.

In the 2002 legislative elections, no party gained a majority ; Touré then appointed a politically inclusive government and pledged to tackle Mali ’ s pressing social and economic development problems.