The Independent National Electoral Commission of Niger (Céni) announced on Thursday the postponement to December 13, 2020 of municipal and regional elections, constantly postponed since 2016, and which were initially scheduled for November 1. "The Céni proposes the date of December 13, 2020 which responds to your concerns and which also takes into account its logistical and financial capacities" , declared the president of the Céni Issaka Souna during a meeting with the political parties.
Read also: Niger: the Minister of the Interior leaves the government to prepare for the presidential election
At the beginning of July, Issaka Souna raised an outcry among opposition parties and other close to the regime by announcing that the municipal and regional elections could not be held until January 17, 2021, due in particular to "delay" accused in the preparation. of the biometric electoral file. These parties demanded municipal and regional elections before the first round of the presidential election, coupled with the legislative elections, which is set for December 27, 2020. The municipal and regional elections were initially set for May 9, 2016, but suffered many postponements as the authorities justified by "the rainy season" or "the imperative need" to develop "a biometric electoral register".
To allow town halls to function, the mandates of local elected representatives - elected for five years in 2011 - which expired since 2016, are extended every six months by the government, thanks to a law passed by Parliament. Since 2017, the opposition has refused to sit on the Independent National Electoral Commission (Céni) and challenges the new electoral code drawn up, according to it, on a "non-consensual basis, without its participation", which was adopted in June 2019 by the Parliament. On Thursday, the opposition reiterated its "demand for the dissolution of the Ceni". A "dialogue" announced at the end of October 2019 by the government and the opposition with a view to "appeasing" the tense political climate has still not started six months before the presidential election.