This is the history of the Niger. See also the history of Africa and the history of West Africa.
Elections in Niger take place within the framework of a semi-presidential system. The President and National Assembly are elected by the public, with elections organised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI).
Mahamadou Issoufou is a Nigerien politician who served as the President of Niger from 7 April 2011 to 2 April 2021. Issoufou was the prime minister of Niger from 1993 to 1994, president of the National Assembly from 1995 to 1996, and he was a candidate in each presidential election from 1993 to 2016. He led the Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS-Tarayya), a social democratic party, from its foundation in 1990 until his election as president in 2011. During the Presidency of Mamadou Tandja (1999–2010), Issoufou was the main opposition leader.
The National Movement for the Development of Society is a political party in Niger. Founded under the military government of the 1974–1990 period, it was the ruling party of Niger from 1989 to 1993 and again from 1999 until 2010, when a coup on 18 February 2010, by a military junta called the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy (CSRD) ousted the president, Mamadou Tandja.
The Nigerien Progressive Party – African Democratic Rally is a political party in Niger. It was the leading political party of the pre-independence era, becoming the sole legal party of the First Republic (1960–1974). It was led by Niger's first President, Hamani Diori. After the end of military rule, the party reappeared as a minor parliamentary party led by Diori's son, Abdoulaye Hamani Diori.
The Union for Democracy and the Republic is a political party in Niger. Its founding leaders were former Prime Minister Amadou Cissé and Amadou Madougou.
The Rally for Democracy and Progress is a political party in Niger, led by Hamid Algabid. It was established as the ruling party during the presidency of Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara.
The Nigerien Alliance for Democracy and Progress is a political party in Niger. Moumouni Adamou Djermakoye led the party from its foundation in 1992 until his death in 2009.
The Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism is a political party in Niger. It is a broadly left-leaning party, part of the Socialist International, and since 2011 it has been in power following the election of its long-time leader, Mahamadou Issoufou, as president. Mohamed Bazoum is President of the PNDS, and its Secretary-General is Foumakoye Gado.
General elections were held in Niger in 1999; the first-round of the presidential elections was held on 17 October, with a run-off held alongside National Assembly elections on 24 November. The elections followed a coup d'état on 9 April, in which Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara, who had led an earlier coup in January 1996 and won disputed presidential elections, was assassinated. Coup leader Daouda Mallam Wanké initiated a transitional period that concluded with the victory of Mamadou Tandja, the candidate of the National Movement for the Development of Society (MNSD), over Mahamadou Issoufou, the candidate of the Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS), in the run-off. The vote for the first National Assembly of the Fifth Republic, which had originally been scheduled for October, but delayed in August, also saw a victory for the MNSD, which won 38 of the 83 seats. It formed a coalition with the Democratic and Social Convention in order to gain a majority in the Assembly.
The Union of Popular Forces for Democracy and Progress–Sawaba is a political party in Niger, founded as the Nigerien Democratic Union in 1954. The original party, founded by Nigerien Progressive Party (PPN) co-leader Djibo Bakary when he was expelled from the PPN. In the mid-1950s it created a broad coalition led by urban leftists but forged of conservative rural notables, especially from Hausa areas, which dominated the nascent Nigerien independence movement. In this period it was renamed Mouvement Socialiste Africain–Sawaba, and then simply Sawaba. In pushing for complete independence from France in a 1958 referendum, the party fractured. At independence in 1960 it found itself in opposition and outlawed by Niger's first president, Hamani Diori. From exile, the party attempted an abortive guerrilla campaign in the mid-1960s, and then largely disappeared. Its leadership returned to Niger following the 1974 military coup, but soon found themselves arrested, in exile, or marginalised. Following the return of democracy in 1991, the now elderly Bakary re-founded the party as UDFP–Sawaba. In the 1993 elections it took only a small numbers of votes. Within the year the party had split, with a new faction (UDFR–Sawaba) joining the government coalition. Despite Bakary's death in 1998 and their continued electoral underachievement, both parties holding the Sawaba name continue.
The Union for Democracy and Social Progress is a centrist political party in Niger. With its support base in the Tuareg people of northern Niger, the party's history is tied up with that of the Tuareg rights movements which surrounded the Tuareg insurgencies of 1990–95 and 2007–09. Its slogan, "Amana", is a Hausa language word for "Trust"
The 1999 Nigerien coup d'état occurred on 9 April 1999 and resulted in the death of President Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara and the installation of Daouda Malam Wanké as President on 11 April. Maïnassara was shot under unclear circumstances in an ambush at either Diori Hamani International Airport, potentially while attempting to flee the country, or at a military base, likely by members of the Presidential Guard.
General elections were held in Niger on 12 December 1989 to elect a President and National Assembly. They were the first elections since 1970, and followed the approval of a new constitution in a referendum in September, which had made the country a one-party state with the National Movement for the Development of Society as the sole legal party. As a result, its leader, the incumbent president Ali Saibou, was elected unopposed, and the party won all 93 seats in the Assembly. Voter turnout was 95.1%.
Parliamentary elections were held in Niger on 14 February 1993. They were the first multi-party elections in the country since independence in 1960, and followed constitutional changes approved in a referendum the previous year. Although the ruling National Movement for the Development of Society won the most seats, several opposition parties formed the Alliance of the Forces of Change following the elections, between them controlling 50 seats. Voter turnout was just 32.7%.
General elections were held in Niger on 31 January 2011 to elect the President and National Assembly, with a second round of the presidential elections on 12 March. The first round of the presidential elections was originally scheduled to be held on 3 January and the second round on 31 January, but was later postponed. The elections followed a military coup in February 2010 that ousted President Mamadou Tandja.
General elections were held in Niger on 21 February 2016, with a presidential run-off held on 20 March. A total of 15 candidates ran for the presidency, with incumbent President Mahamadou Issoufou running for re-election for a second term. There were two main opposition candidates also vying for the top post, Seyni Oumarou of the MNSD, who lost to Issoufou in 2011, and Hama Amadou of MODEN/FA, who has been campaigning from prison since November 2015. Most of the opposition agreed to align for the second round to back the second-placed candidate against Issoufou.
The Party of the Masses for Labour is a political party in Niger.
The Movement for Democracy and Progress, also known as the Movement for Democracy and Pan-Africanism, is a political party in Niger.
