Voters in Niger went to the polls yesterday for an election that could seal the country’s first-ever peaceful handover between elected presidents, despite a bloody militant insurgency.
The West African country has been chronically unstable since gaining independence from France 60 years ago, and is ranked the world’s poorest country according to the UN’s Human Development Index.
About 7.4 million people are registered to vote for the ballot for presidency, which coincides with legislative elections.
Photo: AFP
Nigerien President Mahamadou Issoufou, who was elected in 2011 after the country’s latest coup in 2010, is voluntarily stepping down after two five-year terms.
The frontrunner in the 30-strong field is his designated successor, Mohamed Bazoum, 60, a former Nigerien minister of foreign affairs.
Bazoum’s main rival, former prime minister Hama Amadou, 70, was last month barred from contesting the vote on the grounds that in 2017 he was handed a 12-month term for alleged baby trafficking — a charge he says was fictitious. Campaigning has been overshadowed by the issue of security.
Niger is being battered by militants on two fronts — on its southwestern border with Mali and its southeastern frontier with Nigeria.
In the country, hundreds have died in the past five years and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes.
The economy, already fragile, has suffered devastating blows. About 42 percent of the population last year lived on less than US$1.90 per day, according to the World Bank, while nearly one-fifth of its surging population of 23 million relied on food aid.
On Monday, seven troops and 11 suspected jihadists died in an ambush in the southwestern region of Tillaberi, the government said on Thursday, adding that the Nigerien army has been massively deployed for Sunday’s vote.
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