Centrum Stosunków Międzynarodowych - 21 February 2016: Niger's first round of presidential elections

Niger’s first round of the presidential elections on the 21st of February hosted 15 candidates. It resulted in incumbent president Issoufou from the PNDS-Tarraya party taking the lead with 48,4% of the votes. Issoufou is running for his second term, promising to crush Islamist militants of Boko Haram and to reduce the country's deep poverty. One of the contenders heading the opposition is former premier and parliament speaker Amadou, who is campaigning from behind bars due to his alleged role in a baby-trafficking scandal but nevertheless came in second with 17,8% of the votes. Third runner up was former Prime Minster Oumarou who received around 12%. Niger closed its land borders and ramped up security during the elections in case of unrest or militant attacks. Although the atmosphere surround the elections was claimed to be ‘tense’, there was only one reported attack.