NIAMEY, Feb 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Seven election workers were killed early Sunday in Niger’s troubled western Tillaberi region when their vehicle hit a mine.
The blast also injured three of the workers, who included the heads of polling stations, the region’s governor Tidjani Ibrahim Katiella said.
The accident came as Niger holds a presidential election runoff between frontrunner Mohamed Bazoum, loyal to outgoing president Mahamadou Issoufou, and former president Mahamane Ousmane.
The team had been sent by the Tillaberi branch of the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) to monitor the polling, the governor said.
The explosion occurred in the town of Dargol some 100 kilometres from Niamey in the so-called tri-border region where Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso converge.
The West African nation has been battling rising attacks by Islamic extremists for years and Niger experts had warned that Sunday’s elections could see violence.
Polls opened on Sunday morning for a second round of voting after the 28 candidates in December’s vote failed to win an absolute majority.
Former foreign affairs minister Mohamed Bazoum, who received around 39% of the vote in the first round, is running against former president Mahamane Ousmane, who got nearly 17% of the vote, according to the National Independent Electoral Commission.
The winner of Sunday’s vote will succeed President Mahamadou Issoufou – the leader is stepping down after serving two terms, in accordance with Niger’s constitution.
Issoufou’s decision to respect the constitution has been widely hailed and paves the way for Niger’s first peaceful, democratic transfer of power since its independence from France in 1960. The West African nation has seen four coups.
Issoufou’s chosen successor is Bazoum, 71, a longtime Cabinet minister who is from Niger’s small ethnic Arab minority.
Of Niger’s 23 million people, around 7.4 million are registered to vote. In the parliamentary and presidential elections that took place on Dec 27, turnout was approximately 67%.
Niger’s next president will have to deal with major problems, including rising attacks linked to Islamic extremists.
Thousands of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced despite the presence of thousands of regional and international troops.
The candidates are trying to entice voters through various campaign promises.
A teacher by training, Bazoum, who is of the ruling Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism, has promised to build boarding schools for girls to encourage them to remain in school longer, which he said would help reduce child marriage in a country with many teenage pregnancies.
But peace is what locals say they really want from the country’s next leader.
The vast and unstable region has been under a state of emergency since 2017.
It was the scene of one of the worst civilian massacres suffered by the Sahel country in early January, when around 100 people were killed during an attack on two villages.
The twin attack occurred on the day election officials announced results from the first round of the presidential vote held on Dec 27. — NNN-AGENCIES
