Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, President of Mali and candidate for Rally for Mali party (RPM) casts his vote at a polling station during the presidential election in Bamako, Mali July, 29 2018. REUTERS/Luc Gnago

BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita’s spokesman said on Monday that the president was substantially ahead according to the provisional vote count after Sunday’s election, although a run-off was also possible.

“According to our tally, IBK has come substantially ahead,” his spokesman Mahamadou Camara told Reuters by telephone, using the popular nickname for the president taken from his initials.