Niger’s 7.4 million registered voters went to the polls on Sunday in the second round of the country’s presidential election. The historic runoff is expected to pave the way for Niger’s first democratic transition of power since independence more than six decades ago.
Two political juggernauts looking to clinch the slot of the presidency are Issoufou’s man Friday and the ruling Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism Mohamed Bazoum and Mahamane Ousmane – the country’s first democratically elected president.
Widely regarded as the outgoing President’s favourite, Mohamed Bazoum led the first round of vote by 39.3 percent of votes in the first round of voting on December 27 2020.
He seeks to maintain Issoufou’s policies focusing on overhauling the economy and providing all-inclusive security. He has the endorsement of the candidates who came third and fourth in the first round.
His challenger Mahamane Ousmane was first elected in 1993 as the country’s first democratically elected president. He was toppled three years later in a coup. He won 17 percent of the votes in the first round and has the support of about a dozen smaller parties. He has vowed to implement change and tackle corruption.
In spite of Mahamadou Issoufou’s efforts towards political stability and economic growth, conflict in neighbouring countries has hindered serious development and worsened its internal security. In 2019, the World Bank estimates 41.4 percent of the population is living in extreme poverty.
President Issoufou’s gesture of extending the olive branch to many rebel leaders helped stabilise the country for a while and caused the billowing calls for secession to ebb.
Niger’s recurring famine, incessant floods festering insurgencies on its flanks has impacted its socio-political spaces in recent times. With the exception of Benin republic, at least Al-Qaida-backed terrorist operate in six of the seven countries surrounding Niger.
They have carried out several attacks near Niger’s western border with Mali and Burkina Faso, while Boko Haram has killed hundreds of people along its south-eastern border with Nigeria.
Uranium, its major export has tanked in price over the years and source of coronavirus has held the country’s economy down. Although turnout is expected to be high, the election’s final outcome is highly unpredictable seeing as the process has been shown to be largely transparent. Both candidates stand the same chances.
Although there was relative calm in the South East of the country and no reported incidences of voting fraud, there were reports of armed persons who arrived to seize ballot boxes in the interior of the country.
At least seven people died and many others injured after a vehicle belonging to Niger’s electoral commission hit a landmine some sixty miles from Niamey in the rural community of Dargol.
Whoever emerges as President faces a daunting duty of surmounting the three critical issues of insecurity along its borders, alleviating poverty among its hoi polloi, and fighting corruption to a hilt.