Seven election workers were killed early Sunday in Niger s troubled western Tillaberi region when their vehicle hit a mine, the area s governor told AFP.
The blast also injured three of the workers, who included the heads of polling stations, Tidjani Ibrahim Katiella told AFP.
The accident came as Niger holds a presidential election runoff between frontrunner Mohamed Bazoum, loyal to outgoing president Mahamadou Issoufou, and former president Mahamane Ousmane.
The team had been sent by the Tillaberi branch of the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) to monitor the polling, the governor said.
The explosion occurred in the town of Dargol some 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Niamey in the so-called tri-border region where Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso converge.
Continuity vs. change in Niger
The two candidates vying to replace Issoufou are political stalwarts in the West African nation, which is one of the poorest in the world.
Mohamed Bazoum, Issoufou s right-hand, is widely seen as the favorite after winning 39.3% of the vote in the first round. He has vowed to continue Issoufou s policies, with a focus on security and revamping the economy. He has the backing of the candidates who came third and fourth in the first round.
Mahamane Ousmane, was Niger s first democratically elected president in 1993 until he was toppled in a coup three years later. He won 17% of the votes in the first round and has the endorsement of about a dozen smaller parties and candidates. He has vowed to implement change and tackle corruption.
Niger voted Sunday in a presidential run-off between two heavyweights that is set to bring about the first democratic transition of power in the coup-prone country’s history.
A giant poster for Mahamane Ousmane, who is contesting former interior minister Mohamed Bazoum in Sunday’s runoff. Photo: BANGKOKPOST
The world’s poorest nation according to the UN’s development benchmark covering 189 countries, Niger is also struggling with jihadist insurgencies that have spilled over from Mali and Nigeria. x
Only 7.4 million of the country’s 22 million population are eligible to vote on Sunday the rest are under-age.
Thousands of soldiers are deployed across the country for the vote, which is on track to usher in a peaceful handover between elected presidents, its first since independence from France in 1960.
Niamey
Niger, a vast desert nation that straddles both the Sahara and the troubled semi-arid Sahel, goes to the polls on Sunday to elect a new president and legislature.
Here is a snapshot of its recent history.
Volatility
Niger gained independence from France on August 3, 1960. It saw the first of several coups in April 1974, before oscillating between military and democratic regimes until President Mahamadou Issoufou was elected in March 2011.
Issoufou is now standing down after two terms but backs his protégé, Mohamed Bazoum, in Sunday s election.
Growing attacks
In 2010 seven employees of the French nuclear giant Areva were kidnapped by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim) from a uranium mine in Arlit in the north of the country. The last four men were freed in 2013.