foreigners to restrict the movement of contraband and to verify vehicle registrations. Some police and gendarmes extorted bribes. The constitution and law specifically prohibit forced exile; the government did not use it. Protection of refugees The law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 protocol, and the government has established a system for providing protection to refugees. In practice, the government provided protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a country where there is reason to believe they feared persecution, and granted refugee status or asylum. A national committee in charge of refugees operated with institutional assistance from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. During the year the government also provided temporary protection to 241 individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 convention and the 1967 protocol. Political rights The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal suffrage. Elections and political participation On April 29, President Amadou Toumani Toure was elected to a second five-year term with 71 percent of the vote. Legislative elections were held in July. Domestic and international observers characterized both elections as generally free, fair, and without evident fraud, but there were administrative irregularities. Political parties generally operated without restrictions. Fourteen women were elected to the 147-member National Assembly. There were five women in the 27-seat cabinet, five women on the 33-member Supreme Court, and three women on the nine-member Constitutional Court; a woman chaired the Supreme Court. The National Assembly had 14 members of historically marginalized pastoralist and nomadic ethnic minorities representing the northern regions of Gao, Timbuktu, and Kidal. The cabinet also had two members from such ethnic minorities. Government corruption and transparency The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption; however, officials frequently engaged in corrupt practices with impunity. The government continued its campaign to curb corruption, which hindered development and governmental efforts to improve human rights. The auditor general's 2007 annual report cited approximately $218 million (101.4 billion CFA francs) in lost revenues in 2006 due to financial mismanagement, corruption, and fraud. The report charged local fuel importation companies with widespread tax evasion and customs duty fraud, including missing revenues of $15.5