Nigerien opposition rejects initial presidential poll results

Nigerien opposition on Tuesday rejected the provisional presidential election results published by the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI), terming them as fanciful.

Nigeriens voted on Sunday in the first round of the presidential elections in which 15 candidates, including the incumbent President Mahamadou Issoufou, contested.

Since Monday, CENI has been releasing results of the presidential elections at its headquarters in Niamey.

The initial results from 20 communes out of 308 show president Issoufou leading his fellow contestants.

By Tuesday, the president is leading with 40.18 percent, followed by former speaker of Parliament Hama Amadou, who has 29.17 percent, and Seini Oumarou with 12.08 percent.

The spokesman for the opposition alliance, Coalition for Change in 2016 (COPA 2016) Amadou Boubacar Cisse, who was also a candidate, said his coalition does not recognize the results announced by CENI.

The opposition decried numerous irregularities that included sudden increase of polling stations in some regions, shortage of ballot papers for the opposition candidates, high number of double registered voters and intimidation of opposition supporters.

According to spokesman, what was announced by CENI was totally contrary to what was expressed in the ballot.

He further called on the opposition supporters to resist and reject the results.

All election observer missions deployed in Niger, among them the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States, the West African Economic and Monetary Union, have hailed the peaceful conduct of the elections, despite some logistical challenges.

They urged the candidates to use legal means to resolve any electoral dispute.

On Tuesday, CENI announced that the provisional voter turnout during Sunday's elections was 71.2 percent. Enditem