The list of candidates for the presidential election in Niger is now known. The Constitutional Court validated 30 cases out of the 41 submitted. No woman is among the candidates. The main opponent Hama Amadou is disqualified due to his criminal record and his conviction in 2017. The opposition leader was dismissed, his party Moden Fa Lumana is “a priori” not in these elections because he has no alternative but Hama Amadou.
as reported from Niamey, Moussa Kaka
The Constitutional Court discussed within the legal deadlines, ie. 48 hours. Sure the 41 application files In the first round of the presidential election, which will take place on 27 December 2020, eleven were declared ineligible, including opposition leader Hama Amadou, and 30 were declared eligible. Among them we can quote Albadé Abouba, Ibrahim Yacoubou, Mahamane Ousmane, Mohamed bazoum, Salou Djibo and Seyni Oumarou.
The majority of the documents of the nine rejected candidates do not contain the receipt justifying the payment of the participation in the election costs, ie CFA 25 million (approximately EUR 38 000). This is the case among others with the sheik Boureima Daouda, Imam of the Grand Mosque at the University of Niamey.
Departure to Nigeria
The case of Hama Amadou surprised his activists. According to the President of the Court, bulletin number three is off criminal record which he added to his application file indicates a penalty of one year imprisonment for “concealment of children, complicity in forgery in public writing and complicity in false statements that caused the inclusion in public or authentic statements contrary to the truth, use of forgeries [dans l’affaire dite de supposition d’enfants]“.
Hama Amadou, who did not hear the Constitutional Court’s announcement, had already left Niamey on November 13 for Nigeria. The question is whether he will give voting instructions now that his candidacy has been rejected.
►Read also: Niger: justice maintains criminal record for opponent Hama Amadou
.
