Mali's parliamentary elections will enter a second round on December 15 as no party has secured an absolute majority in the first round, according to provisional results.
Turnout in the November 24 polls reached 38.4 per cent, "far short of our expectations", said Minister of Territorial Administration Moussa Sinko Coulibaly, as he announced the results.
Some 6.5 million Malians were eligible to vote for a new national assembly, with more than 1000 candidates running for the 147 seats.
The polls marked Mali's first steps to recovery after it was plunged into chaos by a military coup in March last year that triggered the fall of the country's north into the hands of armed Islamist groups.
They finalised a process begun with the election of its first post-conflict leader in August.
The goal of the new Malian president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, is to give his RPM party and its allies a comfortable majority in the new assembly.
