THE NIGER NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
The Republic of Niger, as
officially known, is a landlocked country in West Africa and bears the name of
the Niger River. The former French colony is a unitary state, sharing a border
with Libya in the north-east, Chad in the east, Nigeria in the south, Benin and
Burkina Faso in the south-west, Mali in the west and Algeria to the northwest.
Niger gained its independence
from France in 1960 and experienced a series of disturbances and coups d’état
until 2010, when a new civil constitution was designed to restore peace. Niamey
is the largest and capital of Niger, with a population of more than 25 million
in October 2021.
Niger’s legislative body is the
National Assembly, which is structurally unicameral and currently has 166
members elected directly for a five-year term instead of 171. Women
represent (28%) of the total members of
the Assembly. Elections for the 5 representatives of the diaspora are underway.
The members of the National
Assembly are elected by proportional list voting
The voting methods for the
general elections are :
·
first past the post for special
constituencies;
· proportional representation at the
highest average for ordinary constituencies. For special constituencies the
candidate who has obtained the relative majority of votes is declared elected.
In the event of a tie vote, a
second round shall be held within ten (10) days of the proclamation of the
results by the Constitutional Court. In the case of ordinary constituencies,
the election shall take place on the basis of a list vote open to proportional
representation, without any mixing or preferential voting, according to the
rule of the highest average.
The allocation of seats according
to proportional representation and the distribution of leftovers by the rule of
the highest average consists in assigning as many seats to a list as the number
of its votes contains the electoral quotient. The quotient is the result of the
division of valid votes cast by the number of seats to be filled in an
electoral district. The average is determined for each list by the ratio of the
total number of votes obtained to the total number of seats it would have if it
were allocated the remaining seat.
The list with the highest average
wins one seat. This operation shall be resumed where there are two or more
remaining seats until all the seats have been allocated. If several lists
obtain the same average for the allocation of the last seat, the latter returns
to the list that will have won the greatest number of votes.
Between general elections,
vacancies are filled by alternate members. However, by-elections are held
whenever more than one-third of the seats become vacant. Nigerian citizens must
be 18 years of age and over and 21 years of age for candidates.
In the 2016 elections to the National Assembly of Niger, 43 of the 16 competing parties won seats in the assembly. Nigerian Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS Tarayya), Nigerian Democratic Movement for an African Federation (MODERN / FA-Lumana Africa) and National Movement for the Development Society (MNSD) – Nassara, the Patriotic Movement for the Republic (MPR Jamhuriya) emerging respectively as the 4 main parties.
Source: https://data.ipu.org/content/niger?chamber_id=13476
Official Website: https://www.assemblee.ne/