The desert town of Kidal and the surrounding region house just 0.5 percent of the people who registered to vote in Mali's presidential election, a number likely to have little impact on the race's outcome. Yet experts say the future of Mali is likely going to be decided by how this region that has been at the epicenter of multiple rebellions handles Sunday's poll, AP reported. Many fear that if rebels in the north, whose flag still flies here, disrupt the ballot or pressure large numbers of people not to vote, Mali's election will be robbed of its needed legitimacy, laying the seeds for another rebellion. The ballot is being held here even though representatives of the Malian state, including the army and the governor, were only able to return to Kidal three weeks ago, their access blocked by fighters from a Tuareg separatist movement which invaded, and briefly held, Mali's northern half last year. Election workers who travelled to the province to deliver voter ID cards were kidnapped by the rebels and held overnight last week. And one of the only candidates to make a campaign stop in Kidal was nearly prevented from landing when separatists invaded the runway, aggressively blocking the plane's descent. They later pelted the parked aircraft with rocks. The region of Kidal is a vast expanse of mostly deserted space, spanning an area larger than the state of Iowa in Mali's northeastern quadrant. Inside are just 35,393 registered voters out of 6.8 million total, according to data from the country's election commission. That's no more than one voter for every two square miles. -- SPA 20:18 LOCAL TIME 17:18 GMT تغريد
