Brussels, 22/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - Following the second round of the presidential election in Niger, in which no opposition candidate took part, the European Union said on Monday 21 March that it would “follow the end of the electoral process carefully”, while awaiting publication of the results by the independent national election commission.
The results were due to be published at the end of Tuesday. In a statement published on Monday by High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, the EU called “on all political actors to continue their efforts to conclude the electoral process”.
Underlining that the voting “took place in an unprecedented context, with one of the candidates not being able to campaign”, the EU “takes note of the fall in turnout for the second round and regrets that some of the voters did not make the choice to express their opinion at the ballot box”.
In the absence of the opposition candidate, Hama Amadou, who called for the election to be boycotted, the current president, Mahammadou Issoufou, is expected to come out as winner. The EU calls on all the actors to exercise any possible appeal through legal channels. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)