Smoking The Polls

Many Malians sat with an ear to the radio for hours on Tuesday night, listening intently as the results came in for insight into the future of the outside world. Malians know a little something about what goes on outside their borders, they wanted to see if that sagging symbol of optimism, suffering from schisms between North and South, city and country, common and educated, could mend its fences and begin a new era of prosperity. Even as they are unsure of what the result might mean, the ever-optimistic bunch of Malians are simply happy that the elections were free, fair and peaceful, that the results are accepted by both sides without the need for violent revolution or civil war. Nobody knows quite yet whether the incumbent president Laurent Gbangbo will remain in power in Abidjan, or if the Northern challenger Alassane Outtara will take over. Of course there is no discounting the possibility that ex-president Henri Konan Bedie benefits from a late surge in the polls.