to ballot boxes before Niger’s presidential and legislatives voting
materials distribution in Niamey, Niger, on December 26, 2020.
Issouf SANOGO / AFP
Voters in the Sahel state of Niger go to the
polls on Sunday for an election that could seal the country’s
first-ever peaceful handover between elected presidents, despite a
bloody jihadist 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.
Around 7.4 million people are registered to vote for the ballot
for the presidency, which coincides with legislative elections.
President Mahamadou Issoufou, who was elected in 2011 after the
country’s last 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 interior and foreign
minister.
Other prominent hopefuls are two former heads of state, Mahamane
Ousmane, 70, and Salou Djibo, 55.
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 bogus.
Campaigning has been overshadowed by the issue of security.
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Niger is being battered by jihadists on two fronts — on its
southwestern border with Mali, and its southeastern frontier with
Nigeria.
Four thousand people in Burkina Faso, Mali
and Niger died last year from jihadist violence and
ethnic bloodshed stirred by Islamists, according to the UN.
In Niger itself, hundreds have died in the past five
years, and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes.
The economy, already fragile, has suffered devastating
blows.
Around 42 percent of the population lived last year on under
$1.90 (1.56 euros) per day, according to the World Bank, while
nearly a 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.
On December 12, 34 villagers were massacred in Toumour, in the
southeastern region of Diffa, on the eve of municipal and regional
elections that had been repeatedly delayed because of poor
security.
The army has been massively deployed for Sunday’s vote, the
authorities say.
“Sporadic attacks will not prevent the stage of the elections,”
a spokesman said on Thursday. The attack in Toumour triggered a
three-day period of national mourning, but the elections the
following day went ahead smoothly, officials say.
AFP
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