Mali votes in presidential election after violence-marred campaign

A Malian soldier gestures next to a campaign billboard as Keita supporters attended a final campaign rally in Bamako, Mali. [AFP]

More than eight million Malians will go to the polls on Sunday in a key electoral test for the fragile Sahel state, battling a wave of ethnic violence and jihadism.

President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, 71, leads a crowded field of 24 candidates,  just one of them a woman, bidding for the five-year presidency.