Niger's government has postponed by more than a month presidential elections that were to have been held on 3 October, a media source told IRIN from Niamey.
Major Daouda Mallam Wanke, head of the ruling Conseil de Reconciliation Nationale (CRN) junta, announced the postponement on Tuesday. He said the polls would now be held in the first half of November.
The reasons given for the postponement, the source said, included a shortage of funds to finance the operation, partly because help hoped for from the international community has been slow in coming.
The Comite electoral national independant (CENI) has opened an election account to which the local private sector and individuals have been contributing, but much of that money has been used to train election officials in the hinterland, the source told IRIN.
Another reason given for the postponement, he said, was that 3 October coincides with the harvest season, which would mean an extremely low turnout in the rural areas since people would be busy on their farms.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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