Niger Opposition party backs out of presidential run-off due to alleged rigged election results

Niger's opposition coalition's candidate, Hama Amadou, has stepped out of the election race and is boycotting the presidential run-off scheduled for a second round over an alleged unfair treatment.

According to The Eagle, the presidential run-off vote for Niger has been left by the political opposition party, COPA 2016, which is supposed to be scheduled on March 20. The opposition is saying that there will be a rigged election results for their candidate Hama Amadou against current president Mahamadou Issoufou. The announcement came in Tuesday night saying that the Constitutional Court responsible with the validation of results is working with the current government, thus, ensuring President Issoufou to get a second term.

Yahoo reported that Seini Oumarou  from the opposition revealed the announcement claiming that there is also an "unfair treatment between the two candidates." He detailed that there is a lack of announcement for the results of the first round between the candidates that happened in February 21. The results show that President Issoufou won 48.4% of the votes while Amadou, who's in jail, only took 17.4%.

Amadou had campaigned from behind bars following his arrest in November 2015 over an alleged baby-trafficking charges, as reported by France24. Moreover, the African Union, presiding group over the election made, deployed 40 observers for the February 21 results and said that they are generally satisfied with the organization happened during the election. However, the opposition slammed these "grotesque and cooked-up results."

Niger's opposition coalition will continue to unite and prevent President Mahamadou Issoufou to receive his second term. Their candidate Hama Amadou denied all allegations against him, saying these legal process won't keep him in the sideline of the results. Amadou left Niger in 2014 to escape from the charges but returned from France last November which led to his arrest. 

Tags

Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou, Amadou, Hama Amadou, Presidential run-off, coalition, rigged election results, Niger elections, France, Constitutional Court

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