Robert Besser
23 Feb 2021, 09:54 GMT+10
NIAMEY, Niger, February 21: Voters went to the polls on the weekend in the second round of presidential elections, promising the country's first peaceful transfer of power.
Mohamed Bazoum, the ruling party candidate, is expected to defeat former President Mahamane Ousmane.
In the first round of elections on December 27, Bazoum received 39 percent of the vote, while Ousmane's vote total reached 17 percent.
Bazoum, a former interior and foreign minister, is now backed by the candidates who came in third and fourth in December voting.
The 71 year-old Ousmane was Niger's first democratically elected president, but was deposed during a 1996 military coup.
There have been four military coups since Niger, a former French colony, gained independence in 1960.
The 61 year-old Bazoum has said he would continue Issoufou's policies, seeking to boost the economy, even as Niger battles insurgents.
Hundreds have been killed by Boko Haram along Niger's western border, as well as by al Qaeda and Islamic State militants, who have murdered civilians.
Niger is one of the world's poorest countries, which currently is battling droughts, coronavirus and weak prices for the minerals it exports.
Get a daily dose of New York Statesman news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to New York Statesman.
More InformationThe February meeting of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) Defense Ministers, the first since President Biden took power, revealed an ...
LAKE WORTH, FLA. Hundreds of familiesmany of them poor farmworkers, jobless during the Covid-19 pandemicgathered in the parking lot of ...
After nearly a decade of activism, the Fight for $15 stands closer than ever to achieving its most visible goal: ...
When Covid-19 forced Wisconsin to shut down in late March last year, supply shocks to the agricultural industry delivered a ...
Since President-elect Joseph Biden clinched the Democratic nomination, progressive analysts have generated a rich literature on how he should govern. ...
Editor's Note: This story was originally published by The Conversation and is republished here under a Creative Commons license. Rural ...
WASHINGTON, DC - Following accusations of sexual harassment against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, White House press secretary Jen Psaki ...
SAN FRANCISCO, CA: Small earthquakes reaching magnitude 3.7 were felt along California's Central Coast after midnight on Sunday, according to ...
WASHINGTON DC: Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Dr. Anthony Fauci said he would not hesitate to be inoculated with the ...
NEW YORK, New York: Following news reports that the National Football League (NFL) had signed a new agreement with Walt ...
WASHINGTON DC: Even as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is monitoring outbreaks of the Ebola virus in ...
WASHINGTON DC: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that it has distributed 96,402,290 doses of Covid vaccines ...