Political parties support Tandja

Seventeen parties have pledged support for the front runner Mamadou Tandja for the 24 November presidential runoff. The pledge came in a joint statement read out on Friday by Mahamane Ousmane, leader of the Convention democratique et sociale (CDS), on the state-run Voix du Sahel radio. Tandja, of the Mouvement National de la societe de developpement, won 32.3 percent of the 1.9 million valid votes cast in the first round of elections, held on 17 October. His rival in the runoff, former prime minister Mahamadou Issoufou of the Parti pour la Democratie et le Socialisme (PNDS), won 22.8 % of the vote in the first round.