BAMAKO, Mali－Mali held a long-delayed parliamentary election on Sunday despite concerns about the novel coronavirus, an insurgency in its central and northern regions and the recent kidnapping of the main opposition leader.

The election, originally scheduled for 2018, had been postponed twice because of intensifying violence in parts of Mali where the government struggles to suppress extremist groups with links to the al-Qaida and Islamic State terror groups.

The coronavirus pandemic has posed a further threat to the vote but authorities in the West African nation had insisted it would go ahead, promising to enforce additional hygiene measures to protect Mali's 7.6 million voters.

"The government will do everything to make sure this is the case," Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said in the run-up to the election.

Polls opened on Sunday at 8 am and the turnout in the capital Bamako appeared low, a Reuters witness said.

Given the rising number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Mali, with 21 so far, the government had said it was putting hand-washing kits or hand sanitizers at the entrance of each polling station.

It also asked voters to maintain a distance of at least one meter between them in the queues, and avoid handshaking and hugging.

People were also advised not to gather inside or outside polling stations, and to wash their hands before and after voting.

But according to Reuters, there was no queue at one polling station, which allowed voters to cast their ballots while keeping the recommended distance from each other. Hand-washing facilities were meant to be available, but the kits arrived too late for early voters.

"I voted without a problem, but the hygiene kit against coronavirus wasn't there," said 30-year-old driver Ibrahim Konare. "The priority for the new parliament should be the fight against insecurity and the eradication of coronavirus."

Insurgency-hit regions

It was not clear how voting was going in the large areas of central and northern Mali that are used by the extremists as a base for attacks in Mali and into neighboring Niger and Burkina Faso.

Mali's main opposition leader Soumaila Cisse was ambushed last week while on the campaign trail in the northern region of Timbuktu. The attackers killed Cisse's bodyguard and took Cisse and six members of his delegation hostage. They have not been seen since.

A total of 1,451 candidates, including 427 women, were competing for the 147 seats in Mali's national assembly.

About 22,150 polling stations across the country closed at 6 pm on Sunday, with the results due in the coming days. A second round is scheduled for April 19 in constituencies where no candidate wins a majority.

The Malian president's party Rally for Mali won the legislative elections in 2013 with 66 seats.

Agencies - Xinhua