Malian opposition candidate Soumaila Cisse said today he would reject the results of a presidential runoff marred by accusations of fraud, calling on the population "to rise up."
"The fraud is proven, this is why there are results we will not accept," Cisse told reporters at his party's headquarters in Bamako. "I call on all Malians to rise up... We will not accept the dictatorship of fraud," he added.
Vote counting was underway across the vast West African country.
President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, 73, is the clear frontrunner in a reprise of his 2013 faceoff against former finance minister Cisse, 68.
The opposition leader, in a meeting where hundreds of supporters had gathered on Monday afternoon, also said the programme his party uses to count votes -- which had put him in the lead until then -- was hacked overnight.
Six members of Soumaila Cisse's campaign team, including four who are French, were arrested on Sunday, the team and Salif Traore, the minister of security, said.
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