Mahamadou Issoufou

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Mahamadou Issoufou (born 1952) is a Nigerien politician. He is the President of the Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism-Tarayya (PNDS-Tarayya),[1] a social democratic party which is currently the largest opposition party in the National Assembly. He was Prime Minister from 1993 to 1994, President of the National Assembly from 1995 to 1996, and is currently a deputy in the National Assembly. He has run for President four times.

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[edit] Background

Issoufou, an ethnic Hausa, was born in the town of Dandaji in Tahoua Department. An engineer by trade, he served as National Director of Mines from 1980 to 1985 before becoming Secretary-General of the Mining Company of Niger (SOMAIR).

[edit] 1993 presidential election and appointment as Prime Minister

In February 1993, the country's first multiparty legislative and presidential elections were held. In the parliamentary election, Issoufou's party, the PNDS, won 13 seats in the National Assembly,[2][3] and Issoufou himself won a seat[4] as a PNDS candidate in Tahoua constituency.[5]

Together with other opposition parties, the PNDS then joined a coalition, the Alliance of the Forces of Change (AFC). This coalition held the majority of the newly elected seats in parliament.[3] Later in February, Issoufou ran as the PNDS candidate in the presidential election. He placed third, winning 15.92% of the vote.[2] The AFC then supported second-place finisher Mahamane Ousmane for president in the second round of the election, held on March 27.[3] Ousmane won the election, defeating Tandja Mamadou, the candidate of the ruling party, the National Movement of the Development Society (MNSD); with the AFC holding a parliamentary majority, Issoufou became Prime Minister on 17 April 1993.

[edit] Conflict, cohabitation, and arrest: 1994-1999

On 28 September 1994, Issoufou resigned in response to a decree from Ousmane a week earlier that weakened the powers of the prime minister, and the PNDS withdrew from the governing coalition. This caused the coalition to lose its parliamentary majority, and eventually led to new parliamentary elections in January 1995. Issoufou and the PNDS forged an alliance with their old opponents, the MNSD, and in the January election the alliance won a slight majority of seats; Issoufou was elected as President of the National Assembly. The new situation of cohabitation resulted in political deadlock, and, with the dispute between the president and the government deepening, on 26 January 1996 Issoufou requested that the Supreme Court remove Ousmane from office for alleged incapacity to govern. A day later, on 27 January 1996, Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara seized power in a military coup.[3] Issoufou, along with President Ousmane and Prime Minister Hama Amadou, was arrested and subsequently placed under house arrest until April.[6] They were all put on television by the military regime in February to express the view that the coup was caused by problems in the political system and to support changes in the system.[3]

He placed fourth (receiving only 7.60% of the vote) in the flawed 7 July – 8 July 1996 presidential election that gave Maïnassara an outright victory.[2] Along with the three other opposition candidates, Issoufou was placed under house arrest on the second day of polling and held for two weeks.[6] Afterward, he refused to meet with Maïnassara, unsuccessfully appealed to the Supreme Court for the election to be annulled, and the PNDS called for demonstrations.[7] On July 26 he was again placed under house arrest, along with another leading PNDS member, Mohamed Bazoum; they were freed on the order of a judge on 12 August.[6] Following a pro-democracy demonstration on 11 January 1997, Issoufou was arrested along with Ousmane and Tandja and held until 23 January.[8]

[edit] Opposition leader: 1999-present

Maïnassara was killed in another military coup in April 1999, and new elections were held in late in the year. In the first round of the presidential election, held in October, Issoufou placed second, winning 22.79% of the vote. He was later defeated by Tandja Mamadou in the November run-off, capturing 40.11% of the vote compared to Tandja's 59.89%.[2][9] He was backed in the second round by the unsuccessful first round candidates Hamid Algabid, Moumouni Adamou Djermakoye, and Ali Djibo, while Tandja received Ousmane's support. After the announcement of the provisional results showing Tandja's victory, Issoufou accepted them and congratulated Tandja.[9]

In a repeat of the 1999 election, Issoufou placed second behind incumbent Tandja in the 2004 presidential election, winning 24.60% of the vote.[2] He was defeated in the run-off, winning 34.47% of the vote to Tandja's 65.53%;[2][10] however, this was still considered an impressive result for Issoufou, since the other candidates had backed Tandja in the second round.[11] Issoufou, who targeted corruption in his campaign, accused Tandja of using state funds for his own campaign, along with other accusations of electoral misconduct, and said that the election was not as transparent as the 1999 election.[12]

[edit] References

  1. ^ PNDS-Tarayya National Executive Committee, as of September 2004 (French).
  2. ^ a b c d e f Elections in Niger, African Elections Database.
  3. ^ a b c d e Jibrin Ibrahim and Abdoulayi Niandou Souley, "The rise to power of an opposition party: the MNSD in Niger Republic", Unisa Press, Politeia, Vol. 15, No. 3, 1996.
  4. ^ "Afrique de l'Ouest - Niger - Cour suprême - 1993 - Arrêt no 93-10/cc du 18 mars 1993", droit.francophonie.org (French).
  5. ^ "Afrique de l'Ouest - Niger - Cour suprême - 1993 - Arrêt no 93-3/cc du 1er février 1993", droit.francophonie.org (French).
  6. ^ a b c Niger: A major step backwards, Amnesty International, 16 October 1996.
  7. ^ "Après l'élection présidentielle contestée", Afrique Express (French).
  8. ^ "Harassment of Government Opponents has Become Systematic", Amnesty International (UNHCR.org), May 1, 1997.
  9. ^ a b "Rapport de la Mission d’Observation des Élections Présidentielles et Législatives des 17 octobre et 24 novembre 1999"PDF (1.06 MiB), democratie.francophonie.org (French).
  10. ^ "Rapport de la Mission d’Observation des Élections Présidentielles et Législatives des 16 novembre et 4 décembre 2004"PDF (99.5 KiB), democratie.francophonie.org (French).
  11. ^ "Incumbent wins Niger presidential poll", afrol News, December 8, 2004.
  12. ^ Nico Colombant, "Niger Opposition Cries Foul Following Runoff Election", VOA News, December 4, 2004.
Preceded by
Amadou Cheiffou		 Prime Minister of Niger
1993–94		 Succeeded by
Souley Abdoulaye
v • d • e
Prime Ministers of Niger
Diori • post abolished, 1960-83  • Oumarou • Algabid • Oumarou • post abolished, 1989-90  • Mahamidou • Cheiffou • Issoufou • Abdoulaye • Cissé • Amadou • Adji • Cissé • Mayaki • Amadou • Oumarou
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