Niger: moreover the election, the establishments have proved their value

This Sunday, December 27, the last election rally of the year 2020 will be held in West Africa. In fact, Nigerian voters are urged to go to the polls for the first round of presidential elections as well as for the legislative elections. Status with Wathi.

Gilles Yabi: Yes, Niger is one of the Sahel countries that is the subject of sustained international attention due to terrorism, diverse and varied human trafficking and the role of transit in irregular migration. Presidential candidates all insist that security threats in Niger are linked to the troubled neighborhood of its vast territory, bordering Algeria and Libya to the north, Chad to the east, Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west.

It is clear that Niger internally offers fewer loopholes than nearby Mali, loopholes in which the perpetrators of armed violence know how to hurry. But Niger remains fragile and vulnerable, and the presidential election will be an important test of consolidating a democratization that is still new. Suffice it to recall that at the end of this vote, this is the first handover of the baton from one elected president to another elected president. The results will also be interesting to decipher, because in Niger no presidential election has yet been played in the first round, which testifies to the existence of fairly well-established political parties with regional electoral fortresses that make dominance difficult. without sharing a camp, even the one in power.

The ruling party candidate Mohamed Bazoum, backed by outgoing President Mahamadou Issoufou, is still the favorite?

Yes, even if the outgoing president respects the constitution and wants to shake hands, the candidate he supports enjoys the usual benefits of outgoing presidents: the continued presence in the state apparatus for years, the media exposure that comes with it. , the party’s logistical, human, material and economic resources, which tend to merge with those of the state apparatus.

Seen from real political practice, Niger is in no way different from other countries in the region. Videos of the election campaign testify to the distribution of brand new banknotes that encourage both the chansonnies during the meetings and the voters present. It is clear that the capacity to use is not the same for the thirty candidates in the race …

But in addition to the election cycles, you would like to welcome the work of an institution which, according to you, has so far played a key role in maintaining peace, security and stability in Niger, the High Authority for Peacebuilding (HACP)

Yes, at the end of a year that has reaffirmed the dead ends of democratic experiences reduced to their simplest electoral terms, it seems to me useful to show that the simultaneous building of democracy, peace and the state passes through institutional innovation and to go beyond short-term political logic.

In Niger, the High Peace Consolidation Authority (HACP), set up in 1995 to monitor the implementation of the peace accords following the Tuareg uprising, has become a permanent institution responsible for potential analysis, prevention and crisis and conflict management through concrete activities. .

In all the most insecure regions, the HACP plays a crucial political role in maintaining permanent contact with local communities and leaders and strengthening the credibility and legitimacy of the state. Of course, the institution would not have been able to achieve tangible results in the long run if it had not been led by strong, competent personalities who were aware of their mission of general interest. The path of institutions of this type equipped with specific mandates and deployed outside capitals seems to me to be one of the most promising leaders in all the countries that want to re-establish or strengthen the connection between states and peoples.

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