Niger's Presidential Vote Goes to Runoff in February

Niger is set to hold a second round of its presidential election between candidate of the Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS) Mohamed Bazoum and Mahamane Ousmane from the Democratic and Republican Renewal after none of the 28 candidates in the Dec. 27 vote won a majority, according to results released Saturday by the country's Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI).

According to the president of the CENI Issaka Souna, the second round is scheduled for Feb. 21. The number of voters in the first round is estimated at 4,778,573 out of 7,746,556 registered voters, with a participation rate of 69.67 percent.

Bazoum received 39.3% of the vote, while Ousmane received 16.9%, according to the National Independent Electoral Commission. Seini Oumarou of the National Movement for the Development of Society party came in third and Albade Abouba of the Patriotic Movement for the Republic came in fourth, each with just over 7%.

The West African country is expected to see its first democratic transition of power since independence from France in 1960, while jihadists in the region pose a growing threat. Some 7.4 million Nigeriens were registered to vote to elect the successor to President Mahamadou Issoufou, who has served two terms and is stepping down.

Niger has seen four coups since independence.

The first round of Niger presidential and legislative elections was held on Dec. 27. More than 7.4 million people are called to vote in about 26,000 polling stations and choose among 30 candidates the successor of the incumbent President Mahamadou Issoufou, who is not running for a third term, as well as 171 representatives in parliament among 4,205 contestants representing more than 100 political parties.