Mali president camp claims first round election win

BAMAKO, May 1 (Reuters) Mali's President Amadou Toumani Toure has been re-elected with over 70 percent of votes and no need for a second round ballot, his campaign team said today.

''The campaign team of Amadou Toumani Toure ... confirms that he has more than 70 per cent of votes ... which places ATT in the lead with an absolute majority in Bamako, the interior and diplomatic posts abroad,'' a campaign spokesman, Mountaga Tall, told reporters.

Toure is popularly known by his initials, ATT.

The tally from Sunday's election was based on information from Toure's representatives in polling stations and returns signed by polling station monitors, Tall said.

The final result will be announc ed by the territorial administration ministry, which was still collating results today, although another government minister yesterday said that given Toure's lead in early results, there would be no need for a second round.

The campaign director of Toure's closest rival, national assembly president and former prime minister, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, has alleged fraud and said he would reject the results.

But foreign observers said the polls had been free and fair.

''There is such a considerable margin that the only worthy thing to do would be to call ATT and congratulate him,'' Tall said.

Credited with rescuing West Africa's second largest country from military dictatorship, Toure first seized power in a 1991 coup and won international acclaim for handing over to an elected president the following year.

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