General elections were held in

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Ma ...

on 19 June 1979. They followed a 1974 referendum that approved a new constitution allowing for the direct election of the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese f ...

for the first time. The country was a

one-party state A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system, or single-party system is a type of sovereign state in which only one political party has the right to form the government, usually based on the existing constitution. All other parties ...

at the time, with the

Democratic Union of the Malian People The Democratic Union of the Malian People (french: Union Démocratique du Peuple Malien, UDPM) was a military-backed political party in Mali. Its main organ was the daily newspaper ''L'Essor – La Voix du Peuple'', which had a circulation of 40,0 ...

(UDPM) as the sole legal party. Its leader,

Moussa Traoré Moussa Traoré (25 September 1936 – 15 September 2020) was a Malian soldier, politician, and dictator who was President of Mali from 1968 to 1991. As a Lieutenant, he led the military ousting of President Modibo Keïta in 1968. Thereafter he ...

, who had overthrown

Modibo Keïta Modibo Keïta (4 June 1915 – 16 May 1977) was the first President of Mali (1960–1968) and the Prime Minister of the Mali Federation. He espoused a form of African socialism. Youth Keïta was born in Bamako-Coura, a neighborhood of Ba ...

in 1968, was the only presidential candidate, and was elected unopposed. In the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

elections several UDPM candidates were able to contest each seat, with 44% of the incumbent MPs defeated.

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An ex ...

, Michael Krennerich & Bernhard Thibaut (1999) ''Elections in Africa: A data handbook'', p569 Voter turnout was reported to be 97%.

Results

President

National Assembly

References

{{Malian elections 1979 in Mali

Elections in Mali Single-candidate elections One-party elections Presidential elections in Mali Election and referendum articles with incomplete results June 1979 events in Africa