After two terms and ten years in power, Mahamadou Issoufou leaves his place at the head of the country. The first estimates are expected Monday, and the results expected Wednesday or Thursday.
The World with AFP
“Whoever the winner is , victory will belong to the Nigerien people. It is a special day for Niger, which will experience for the first time in its history a democratic alternation. “These words are those of the outgoing president, Mahamadou Issoufou.
The Nigerien population voted Sunday, December 27 for a presidential election which should mark the first democratic transition between two presidents elected in this poor Sahelian country, accustomed to coups d’état and plagued by recurrent jihadist attacks. Out of 23 million inhabitants, 7.4 million voters were called to the polls. The results will not be known for several days.
M. Issoufou, 68, is not running for re-election after his two constitutional terms. It will be the first time that two elected presidents have succeeded each other in this country with a history of coups d’état since its independence in 1960.
Thirty candidates running
Former opponent, Mr. Issoufou recalled that it was the first election in his country in which he had not participated for thirty years. After ten years in power, he hopes to pass the baton to his right-hand man, Mohamed Bazoum, 60, a big favorite in the poll, for whom a total of thirty candidates are in the running.
“I ask activists to come out even more numerous to ensure our victory, as [for the municipal and regional elections] on December 13 “, declared the former Minister of the Interior, who aims for a success from the first round in this presidential election coupled with legislative elections .
M. Bazoum, who benefits from the electoral machine of his party and the state, has promised to focus on security and education, especially for young girls, in this country which holds the world fertility record (7, 6 children per woman).
“A one-round election is not possible. They [people in power] know full well that their party’s state of health and the level of frustration Nigeriens prevent any prospect of making “a knockout”. There will be a second round “on February 20, 2021, said by telephone to Agence France-Presse (AFP) former foreign minister Ibrahim Yacouba, after having voted in his village of Birnin-Lokoyo (southwest of the country). “This campaign has been massively corrupted by the money of the ruling party. I am very concerned because this corrupt process can impact the results and undermine the fairness of the ballot,” he denounced.
First estimates Monday
A connoisseur of Nigerien politics underlines the lack of renewal of the political class. Two former presidents, Mahamane Ousmane and Salou Djibo, two former prime ministers, Seini Oumarou and Albadé Abouba, and seven former ministers are among the candidates, for an average age of over 60 years, in a country where she is located around 16 years old.
One of the main challenges for the next president will be to curb jihadist attacks. Two deadly attacks were carried out in the run-up to the poll, one in the West (seven soldiers killed on December 21), where the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (EIGS) is rife, and another in the East, claimed by Nigerian jihadists of Boko Haram (thirty-four dead on December 12). The relentless attacks have claimed hundreds of lives since 2010 and caused an estimated 500,000 refugees and displaced persons to flee their homes, according to the United Nations (UN).
The first presidential estimates are expected Monday, and the expected results Wednesday or Thursday, according to a source at the electoral commission.