Focus on the presidential candidates

Few bets have been placed on the likely winner of Niger’s second round presidential elections which begin on Wednesday because some analysts say few differences emerged between the two candidates, Mamadou Tanja and Mahamadou Issoufou, during the campaign. Both men have campaigned hard on reforming the country’s finances, fighting poverty and achieving national unity in a county beset for years by political and social unrest. “The state must be rebuilt,” Moussa Sangare, the the director of a local newspaper, ‘Alternative’, told IRIN on Tuesday. The winner, he said, will have to try and attract investors, create jobs for the youth, reinject life into businesses and fight poverty. On the political front, he added, the rule of law must be re-established, good governance, which calls for transparency in financial matters, must become the accepted norm. Human rights must be respected, he added, and the army and police sensitised to this, and the public and politicians must accept democratic principles. Both men, short listed from seven presidential candidates by voters in the first round polls on 17 October, are reputed for their discipline and hard work earned when they occupied previous political positions, news sources said. Mamadou Tanja, 62, running on the Mouvement National de la Societe de Developpement (MNSD) ticket, is a former army colonel who took part in the coup that ousted President Hamani Diori in 1974 and brought Seyni Kountche to power. Tanja then served on Kountche’s Supreme Military Council that ran the country. Later he became the prefect at the Region of Tahoua, and served as ambassador to Nigeria. He gained his reputation for hard work and toughness as minister of the interior. In the first round elections he led the pack and captured 32.20 percent of the votes. Tanja’s runner up, former prime minister Mahamadou Issoufou who heads the Parti nigerien pour la democratie et le socialisme (PNDS), trailed that election with 22.78 percent of the vote. AFP reported that his candidacy is considered the preferred choice of the military junta that seized power at the assassination of president Ibrahim Bare Mainassara, in April . The agency reported that in 1993, in the second round of presidential elections, Issoufou’s party backed Mahamane Ousmane, who was beaten by Tanja in the first round. However, it remains to be seen if this time around Ousmane (leader of the Convention democratique et sociale - CDS) will reciprocate Issoufou’s earlier favour. For his part, Tanja has gained the support of one-time prime minister Hama Amadou. “I say and I maintain that the National Movement for the Development Society-Nassara [Tanja’s party] who will win the election, will make our bloc the majority in parliament,” Amadou said on Gabonese Africa No 1 radio on Sunday.