 |
|---|
National Assembly (dissolved) |
| Judiciary |
|
Elections in Niger take place within the framework of asemi-presidential system. ThePresident andNational Assembly are elected by the public, with elections organised by theIndependent National Electoral Commission (CENI).
FollowingWorld War II, French political reforms meant thatNiger began to elect members to theFrench National Assembly. Thefirst of these elections took place on 21 October 1945, with Niger and neighbouringFrench Sudan (nowMali) combined into a single constituency. Two MPs were elected using separate electoral colleges for French citizens and Africans. The next elections for the combined constituency held inJune 1946. By theNovember 1946 elections, Niger had become a single-member seat, which was won byHamani Diori of theNigerien Progressive Party (PPN).
A General Council was established in the same period and wasfirst elected in December 1946 and January 1947.[1] In 1948 Niger was given a second seat in the French National Assembly, which was filled ina by-election in June that year, withGeorges Condat of theUnion of Nigerien Independents and Sympathisers elected. French elections were held again in1951, with both seats won by UNIS. The General Council was converted into the Territorial Assembly in 1952, with thefirst elections to the new body resulting in a victory for UNIS, which won all 35 Second College seats.
The final French National Assembly election in Niger was held in1956, with the PPN and an alliance of theNigerien Action Bloc (BNA) andNigerien Progressive Union (UPN) of Condat winning one seat each. The1957 Territorial Assembly elections were won bySawaba, which took 41 of the 60 seats. However, inearly elections the following year, Sawaba was defeated by theUnion for the Franco-African Community alliance, which included the PPN.
Upon independence in 1960, the PPN became the sole legal party. The country's firstpresidential elections were held in September 1965, with Diori as the sole candidate.Parliamentary elections later in the year resulted in the PPN winning all 50 seats.Presidential andparliamentary elections in 1970 were held under the same system with the same result.
A1974 coup removed the PPN from power, and elections were not held again until 1989, whengeneral elections were called, with theNational Movement for the Society of Development (MNSD), established earlier in the year, as the sole party.Ali Saibou (who had been in power since 1987) was re-elected President, with the MNSD winning all 93 seats in the National Assembly.[2]
By 1993 other political parties had been legalised, and the first multi-partyparliamentary elections since independence were held in February 1993.[3] The MNSD emerged as the largest party, but won only 29 of the 83 seats; opposition parties subsequently formed theAlliance of the Forces of Change, which had a parliamentary majority.[3] In thepresidential elections shortly afterwards,Mahamane Ousmane of theDemocratic and Social Convention was elected in the second round, defeatingMamadou Tandja of the MNSD (who had received the most votes in the first round). Following a split in the AFC,early parliamentary elections were held in 1995,[4] but did not significantly alter the makeup of the National Assembly.
Acoup in January 1996 led topresidential elections in July, in which coup leaderIbrahim Baré Maïnassara was elected. TheNational Union of Independents for Democratic Renewal, formed to support him, won an absolute majority in theparliamentary elections later in the year amidst an opposition boycott.[5]Another coup in 1999 led togeneral elections that year. Tandja was elected president and the MNSD emerged as the largest party in the National Assembly with 38 of the 83 seats.[6] The2004 elections saw Tandja re-elected and the MNSD remain the largest party.[7]
A 2009 referendum resulted in the constitution being suspended and presidential elections being delayed. Theparliamentary elections went ahead, with an opposition boycott allowing the MNSD to win a majority.[8] However, Tandja was removed from office in a2010 coup andgeneral elections were held in 2011, which sawMahamadou Issoufou of theNigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS) elected president and the PNDS become the largest party in the National Assembly.[9] Issoufou was re-elected in2016 general elections, with the second round of the presidential elections boycotted by the opposition. The PNDS made significant gains in the parliamentary elections, but failed to win a majority.[10]
The President is elected for a five-year term using thetwo-round system. The 171 members of the National Assembly are elected by three methods. The majority, 158, are elected from eight multi-member constituencies based on theseven regions and theNiamey metropolitan region; seats are allocated using the simple quotient and thehighest averages method underproportional representation, and there is a 5% electoral threshold. A further eight members are elected from single-member constituencies to represent ethnic minorities, whilst five are elected from single-member constituencies to represent Nigeriens living abroad, with one constituency for each continent. The single member constituencies are elected on afirst-past-the-post (FPTP) basis.[11]
During the French colonial era, French citizens in Niger were able to vote in French referendums held in1945,May 1946 andOctober 1946. In 1958 a constitutional referendum was held across the French colonial empire; rejection would result in immediate independence, whilst approval would result in the territory joining theFrench Community. In Niger thereferendum was approved by 78% of voters.
Thenext referendum was held in 1987 on a National Charter that would establish non-elective, consultative institutions at both national and local levels, with official results showing 99.6% voting in favour. Aconstitutional referendum two years later saw the new constitution approved by a similar margin. Anotherconstitutional referendum in 1992, which proposed reintroducing multi-party democracy, was approved by 90% of voters.
The 1996 coup led to areferendum that saw a new constitution approved by 92% of voters, whilst the 1999 coup resulted in another new constitution receive theapproval of 90% of voters. Areferendum in 2009 proposed suspending the constitution pending a rewrite, and was approved by 92.5% of voters, although it led to aconstitutional crisis that resulted in another coup andanother constitutional referendum in 2010, with 90% backing the new constitution.
| Presidential elections | |
|---|---|
| Parliamentary elections | |
| Local elections | |
| French elections | |
| Referendums | |
