Niger’s ruling party candidate, Mohamed Bazoum, will face former president Mahamane Ousmane in a presidential election runoff in February.
Provisional results announced Niger’s Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) on Saturday showed that Mohamed Bazoum is leading with 1.4 million votes, only trailed by former president Mahamane Ousmane with 675,000.
Former prime ministers Seini Oumarou and Albade Abouba were on course for 345,000 and 260,000 votes respectively.
The commission had provisionally earmarked Friday for the publication of the results but said this would now occur at (0900 GMT) Saturday at the Palais des Congres in Niamey.
However, with 60-year-old Bazoum – a former interior and foreign minister – leading the first round with 39.33% of the vote, falling short of the 50% needed to win outright in the first round, the election will go into a run-off.
Ousmane received 17% of the vote.
The second round is expected to be held on Feb. 21 after the results of the first round have been validated by the constitutional court which will hear any appeals.
Niger’s President Mahamadou Issoufou is stepping down after two five-year terms, which is expected to lead to Niger’s first transfer of power between two democratically elected presidents.
The incoming president will inherit several challenges, including rising violence from Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State. Attacks near the western border with Mali and Burkina Faso and the southeastern border with Nigeria killed hundreds of people last year.
Provisional results of the legislative election showed the ruling Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism leading with 80 seats. The main opposition MODEN/FA-Lumana was second with 19 seats in the 171-seat house
Insecurity overshadowed campaigning, with Niger attacked by extremists on its southwestern border with Mali as well as its southeastern frontier with Nigeria.
Five years of violence have cost hundreds of lives with many more displaced.
Issoufou, who was elected in 2011 after the country’s last coup in 2010, is voluntarily stepping down after two five-year terms.
In a New Year radio address, he hailed the election as “a new, successful page in our country’s democratic history.”
Bazoum campaigned on promises of emphasizing security and education.