Malians Go to Polls in Watershed Election

Mali voted on Sunday for a president expected to usher in a new dawn of peace and stability in the first election since a military coup upended one of the region's most solid democracies.

Voters had a choice of 27 candidates to lead the troubled nation from a crisis ignited by the mutiny which allowed Islamists to take control of its vast north before they were dislodged by a French-led military intervention.

The ballot opened at 8:00 am (0800 GMT) under heavy security after the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, one of the main armed groups linked to al-Qaida in northern Mali, said Saturday it would "strike" polling stations.

But there had been no reports of major violence as polls closed ten hours later.

No official announcement on the result is expected until Friday, although results will begin to trickle in from counts across the country over the next 24 hours.

Acting president Dioncounda Traore called on all candidates to respect the outcome after casting his ballot in Bamako, without revealing whom he had picked.

"I am very satisfied with the general conditions in terms of the organisation of the elections. I think that as far as Malians can remember, this is the best-organised election since 1960," he said.

The APEM Network, an independent Malian organisation that deployed 2,100 observers across the nation, said in a statement issued halfway through voting that "a large voter turn-out was found" among the country's electorate of almost seven million.

In a polling station at a school in Mali's capital, hundreds of voters had been queuing for more than an hour to cast their ballots.

"We are tired of bad governance. I'd urge the candidates to accept the results of our vote," said machine operator Kalifa Traore, 56.

Polling stations in the restive north opened in an atmosphere of calm, although the campaign has played out in the shadow of violence that has raised doubts over Mali's readiness to deliver a safe and credible election.

Much of the worry ahead of the polls had been focused on Kidal, occupied for five months by Tuareg separatists until a ceasefire accord allowed the Malian army earlier this month to provide security.

Clashes between Tuaregs and black Africans in the run-up to the election left four people dead.

And gunmen thought to be from the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) kidnapped five polling officials 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of Kidal.

At one polling station, each voter was being searched by soldiers from the United Nation's peacekeeping mission, which is charged with ensuring security Sunday and in the months after the election.

-- 'Mali will be the real winner' --

The ballot is the first since the military mutiny in March last year that toppled democratically elected president Amadou Toumani Toure.

The ensuing confusion helped the MNLA, MUJAO and other groups allied to al-Qaida to seize northern Mali.

The U.N. deployment, which will reach 12,600 by the end of the year, allows France to start withdrawing most of the 4,500 troops it sent to Mali in January to stop the Islamists from advancing towards Bamako.

Haidara Aichata Cisse, the only woman in the race, went head-to-head with 26 men, including past premiers Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, Cheick Modibo Diarra, Modibo Sidibe and Soumana Sacko.

Keita is seen as the main frontrunner alongside Soumaila Cisse, a former chairman of the Commission of the West African Monetary Union.

If no candidate emerges with an overall majority a second round run-off of the two leaders will be held on August 11.

"This election will help us forget the nightmare. We will have a head of state elected without ambiguity," Keita said after voting, adding that he felt "confident" of success.

Cisse urged Malians to "turn the page" and "restore peace to republican institutions".

In Gao, northern Mali's largest city, dozens lined up to vote in a school near Independence Square, which was renamed "Sharia Square" during the Islamist occupation.

"I hope that with my vote, my candidate is elected and will think about developing my region, which has long been abandoned," said Issoufou Cisse, 50.

A member of the local election commission told Agence France Presse as polls closed that the vote had gone smoothly and that officials had seen "a massive influx" of voters compared with the last presidential election in 2007.

In the northern desert town of Timbuktu polls went ahead after initial problems with organisation, with many unable to find their names on voting lists.

"I will do everything I can to vote, to elect a president who will save Mali, who will reconcile the north and the south, who will reconcile all Malians," English teacher Oumar Diakite told AFP.