Brussels, 15/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Union, which took part in monitoring the electoral process in Niger on 31 January, welcomes the peaceful unfolding of the second round of the presidential elections, won hands down by Mahamadou Issoufou, opposition leader.
In a joint press release published on Tuesday 15 March, Catherine Ashton, the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, and Andris Piebalgs, the European development commissioner, state: “We welcome the great sense of responsibility shown by the Nigerien electorate who have gone to the polls peacefully to vote in the second round of the presidential election and wish to congratulate Mahamadou Issoufou who, according to preliminary results from the Electoral Commission, is the clear winner of the election. This election marks a milestone in the process of transition to democracy and a major step towards the restoration of full cooperation between Niger and the European Union. We wish therefore to commend the transition authorities for their efforts to respect the roadmap to which they were committed from April 2010”. (A.N./transl.jl)