Observers from the Community of Sahelo-Saharan States (CEN-SAD) on Monday called on the candidates of the second round of the Sunday presidential election in Niger to respect the result of the ballot box.
More than a third of the results were published by the Electoral Commission (Ceni) at midday.
Read also: In Niger, Mohamed Bazoum favorite of the presidential election
The CEN-SAD observation mission
"urged all candidates to respect the results of the ballot box and to resort to procedures and legal channels for the settlement of any dispute"
, during a press conference.
The ballot took place, according to her, in
"satisfactory conditions".
He was nevertheless bereaved on Sunday by the death of at least eight electoral agents, including seven in the region of Tillabéri (west, bordering Mali and Burkina Faso in the area known as the "three borders") and one in the region of Diffa (south-eastern border with Nigeria).
The security of electoral operations was the great challenge of Sunday's poll, as will be the acceptance by both camps of the results on the day of their provisional proclamation by the Electoral Commission or final by the Constitutional Court.
The results of 96 municipalities have already been published by the Ceni out of 266, giving for the moment the opposition candidate Mahamane Ousmane ahead of the favorite Mohamed Bazoum (752,430 votes against 690,027), without these results. are currently significant.
7.4 million voters were called to the polls on Sunday.
The Ceni publishes the results in a dropper, before announcing the provisional results.
The Constitutional Court will then proclaim the final results, not expected for several weeks.
Between the two rounds, the opposition said they would not recognize the results if they felt they were tainted with fraud.
After the first round, the opposition denounced alleged fraud and lodged appeals to the Constitutional Court.
They had been dismissed.
Bazoum had collected 39.3% of the vote in the first round on December 27, and Ousmane almost 17%.
The two candidates forged alliances during the period between the two rounds, mathematically giving Bazoum the winner if, however, the vote carry-over from the allied parties is effective, which is not certain according to several observers.