By Boureima Balima, NIAMEY
Niger
Ruling party candidate Mohamed Bazoum was declared the winner of Niger’s presidential election on Tuesday while his opponent alleged fraud and opposition supporters burned tyres in the streets.
Bazoum, a 61-year-old former
interior minister, won 55.75% of the vote in Sunday’s election, according to
the electoral commission. He beat Mahamane Ousmane, a former president who was
toppled by a coup in 1996. The provisional results must still be confirmed by
the constitutional court.
The election is meant to usher in
Niger’s first transition from one democratically elected leader to another,
with President Mahamadou Issoufou stepping down after two five-year terms.
“I am profoundly thankful to the
people of Niger for the confidence they have shown by electing me president of
the republic,” Bazoum said on Twitter. “I will be a loyal servant to it to
confront all the problems that our country faces.”
Shortly before the results were
declared, Ousmane’s campaign said there had been widespread fraud, including
the theft and stuffing of ballot boxes and threats against voters. It did not
provide any evidence.
“We demand the immediate suspension of the
publication of these results, which do not in any way take into account the
expressed will of the Nigerien people for change,” Ousmane’s campaign manager
said in a statement.
Outside Ousmane’s campaign
headquarters and in other parts of the capital Niamey, his supporters protested
by burning tyres. Police fired tear gas to disperse them.
The electoral commission has not
yet commented on the allegations of irregularities. An observer mission from
the Economic Community of West African States said the vote was held “under
free, fair, credible and transparent conditions”.
It was marred, however, by two
attacks that killed eight people in two regions where Islamist militants are active,
commission president Issaka Souna said.
Seven of the victims were
election workers in the western Tillabery region, near the border with Mali,
whose vehicle struck a landmine as they headed to the polls.
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