President clashes with opposition over electoral reform

Niger, which has been plagued by coups since it adopted multi-party democracy in 1992, is facing a new political crisis as President Mamadou Tandja drives through a controversial reform of electoral law without consulting opposition parties. On June 12, Tanja used the overwhelming majority of the ruling coalition in parliament to pass a new law that no longer obliges ministers seeking elected office to resign from their government post beforehand. The new law also abolishes a requirement that the Independent National Electoral Commission be headed by a judge or magistrate. Opposition parties boycotted the session of parliament at which the new law was adopted, protesting that traditionally reforms of the electoral code had been undertaken by consensus, but this time they had not been consulted. They immediately tabled a vote of censure against the government. However, President Tandja responded by closing the special session of parliament at which the new electoral law was approved before the censure motion could be voted on. The opposition parties, grouped in an alliance called the Coordination of Democratic Forces, (CDF), have said they will now take the issue to the constitutional court. Niger's Collective of Organisations for the Defence of Human Rights, has joined the opposition parties in protesting at the president's "unilateral" behaviour. It described his action as "Likely to generate conflicts of unpredictable consequences." Niger, a land-locked mainly desert country of over 10 million people, has plenty of tension bubbling away under the surface. The government in Niamey has been in conflict with the Tuareg tribes of the north for years. The country suffered a coup in 1996 and a presidential assassination three years later. President Tandja, a former army colonel who was elected president in 1999, put down another coup attempt last year by soldiers complaining about poor living conditions. Fresh presidential and parliamentary elections are due at the end of 2004, but Tandja has not yet indicated whether he intends to seek a second term. However, prime minister Amadou Hama, who now leads the ruling National Movement for a Society of Development (MNSD) party, has let it be known that he is keen to stand for the presidency.