Veterans remain favourites as Malians vote in presidential poll Millions of Malians voted for a new president on Sunday in a crucial and controversial poll intended to stabilise the country following a coup and a battle to regain the loss of more than half its territory to al-Qaeda-linked militants. The poll, which has been strongly supported by France and the US, took place just six months after French troops intervened to dislodge the Islamist rebels, leading to concerns Mali was being pushed to elections before it was ready. Yet the vote has been welcomed by many people in the country as a chance for a fresh start. "I am looking for a strong president who can get us out of this trouble," said Fadie Diabate, 53, after casting his ballot at the Missira primary school in Bamako. The election is very necessary. Queues moved swiftly at polling stations in the capital, where voters said the process was more organised than in previous ballots. APEM, a local NGO network monitoring the election, said in a statement that a "large voter mobilisation was observed," and that there had been no major problems with the ballot by midday. In sparsely populated northern Mali, where French and west Africa troops are maintaining security, voting appeared to happen more slowly, especially in the restive Kidal region, near the border with Algeria. Out of the 27 presidential candidates, the favourites are veteran politicians who were the runners-up in the two previous two elections, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, widely known as IBK, and Soumaila Cisse. If no candidate wins 50 per cent of the vote, a run-off will be held on August 11. Mali's previously elected president, Amadou Toumani Touré, was toppled in a March 2012 coup, and the country has since been steered by an ineffectual interim government. Together with the weak army, it was powerless to stop the Islamists rebels cementing control of northern Mali between April 2012 and January this year, when French troops were sent in. France pushed for the poll because it wants an elected leader in place with the mandate and ability to improve security as it draws down its troop numbers in Mali from 3,000 to 1,000 by the end of the year. The US has also been firm on the need for the July election, since it cannot give development and military aid to a non-democratic government. An African diplomat in Bamako said it was wrong to assume that only western countries wanted the vote to proceed. "For this country to be stabilised you [need] a legitimate government, otherwise decisions are not taken," the diplomat said. After serious doubts about the preparation for the vote, election officials said that they had distributed 85 per cent of the biometric ID cards required by the 6.8m registered voters to cast their ballots. On the eve of the vote, Louis Michel, head of the EU's election observer mission, said he was "positively surprised" by the organisation, and that the conditions for the ballot were satisfactory. Not everyone agrees. Issa N'Diaye, a professor of philosophy at the University of Bamako, said that Mali's political elite had surrendered the country's sovereignty to France by agreeing to a rushed poll. The priority should be an inclusive national conference, rather than a flawed vote that may not be accepted by the losing candidates or sections of the population, he added. I am very anxious. The election will not change anything for the better. Much of the concern had centred on northern Mali, since the rebellion there sparked the crisis last year. Tuareg separatists in thinly populated Kidal have resisted attempted by the government to reassert control in recent months. Few people were reported to have voted there on Sunday. But in Kati, a garrison town outside Bamako, from where the former junta launched its coup last year, there was genuine excitement about the ballot. "We are in a crisis, so we don't expect the vote to be perfect," said Mande Samake, a 24-year-old teacher. But this election is still much better than previous ones.