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Niger voters approve new constitution abolishing presidential term limits

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Voters in Niger overwhelmingly approved a referendum Friday establishing a new constitution that would allow President Mamadou Tandja to remain in office. Among the new constitution's changes is the abolition of a presidential two-term limit, allowing Tandja to remain in office for three more years and to run in any subsequent elections. Tandja argued that continuation of his presidency is necessary to the completion of economic development projects in the Saharan country, including a uranium mine and a dam on the Niger River. The new constitution will also allow the president to appoint one third of the members of a newly-created Senate, and to establish a media-monitoring position that would have the authority to jail reporters thought to present a threat to the country. The vote was held on Tuesday, with the Elections Commission claiming that the referendum passed with 92 percent of the vote and that voter turnout was more than 68 percent. The opposition group Coalition of Forces for Democracy and Republic (CFDR), which had encouraged a popular boycott of the referendum on constitutional grounds, disputes the figures, saying that overall turnout was less than 5 percent. In June, opposition leader Bazoum Mohamed of the Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS) accused Tandja of committing a coup d'etat by annulling the West African country's Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court ruled in May that plans to hold a referendum on allowing a third term violated the 1999 Constitution. Tandja responded to the ruling by dissolving parliament and assuming emergency powers.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on August 07, 2009 (boomark / email).