The Niger electoral commission, CENI will on Saturday announce a presidential run-off vote for February, 21, 2021 after none of the 30 candidates in the 27 December election failed to meet the 50 per cent constitutional requirement for election as president.
Two of the front runners in the upcoming poll are former Foreign Minister Mohamed Bazoum, the anointed candidate of outgoing President Mamadou Issoufou, who scored less than 40 per cent of the vote and second place runner-up, a former President, Mahamane Ousmane, scored less than 18 percent.
Twenty-eight other candidates shared the remaining percentage of the votes among them.
Niger, with an estimated 24 million population, seven million registered voters and a 171-seat parliament is a landlocked country in West Africa named after the Niger River and is notorious for political instability, including military coups. It currently endures crises related to climate change and insecurity from militant groups, including Boko Haram and ISIS West Africa.
