The president of uranium-rich Niger was moving forward with a highly controversial referendum yesterday on a new constitution that would remove term-limits and grant him an unprecedented three-year transitional term with boosted power.
Opposition leaders are boycotting the vote because they say it is illegal, a view shared by international donors who may respond by cutting aid to one of the world’s poorest nations.
Mamadou Tandja has ruled the desert country since 1999, twice winning votes hailed as free and fair. But in the waning months of his final term, the bespectacled 71-year-old has gone down the path of many African strongmen, breaking a promise he has frequently made to step down when his term expires on Dec. 22.
Over the last few months, Tandja has swept aside every obstacle in his path.
In May, he dissolved parliament because it opposed the plan. In June, he invoked extraordinary powers to rule by decree, as dictators and coup leaders have done across the African continent for decades.
A few days later, he dissolved the nation’s constitutional court after it ruled the referendum illegal and a violation of his oath of office. Tandja established another court in its place whose members he chose.
Tandja says he is pushing to stay in power because his people have demanded it. He says they want him to finish several large-scale projects worth billions of dollars that have gotten under way in recent months, including a hydroelectric dam, an oil refinery and what will be the largest uranium mine in Africa.
Analysts say the projects, financed by China, France and Arab nations, dwarf other foreign aid and are helping keep Tandja in power. His critics believe he wants to stay on so his family and clan can benefit from the expected influx of wealth.
The ease with which Niger’s democratic institutions have been cast aside marks a setback for a continent struggling to shake off so-called Big Men rulers who cling to power by force and patronage.
The desire to extend terms of sitting presidents is a common scourge in Africa. Though a handful of leaders have failed in attempts to extend their rule, many more have succeeded. Similar referendums have been pushed through in Algeria, Cameroon, Chad, Gabon, Guinea, Namibia, Tunisia and Uganda.
The new constitution in Niger has been criticized because it was drafted by a five-member panel handpicked by Tandja.
Among the new powers written into it for the president are the authority to name one-third of a new 60-seat senate and the ability to appoint a media czar who can jail members of the press who are deemed a threat to the state.
The new constitution would also do away with Niger’s semi-presidential system of governance, replacing it with a presidential system and a prime minister with vastly reduced powers.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel