By the end of the democratic transition instituted by Amadou Toumani Touré, he was elected as Mali's first elected president in 1992, receiving 69.01% of the vote in the second round against US-RDA candidate Tiéoulé Mamadou Konaté. He was re-elected for a second term in the 1997 presidential election despite a boycott of the ballot in protest of his annulment of legislative elections, and he was sworn in on 8 June 1997."L'AGENDA DU PREMIER QUINQUENNAT 1992–1997", L'Essor, 6 June 2002 .
