At stake in this Referendum:

• A referendum to approve a new constitution.

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Djibo SALOU *
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Mahamadou DANDA
• Assembly: Niger has a unicameral National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale) with 113 seats.

* SALOU deposed President Mamadou TANDJA on 18 February 2010

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by absolute majority vote to serve a 5-year term.
• In the National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale), 105 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 5-year terms and 8 members are elected by plurality vote in single-member constituencies to serve 5-year terms.***

*** In the ordinal tier, the threshold is 5 percent. There are 8 multi-seat districts corresponding to the country's eight regions plus Niamey. In the nominal tier, 8 single-seat districts are drawn to favor recognized minority groups.

Main provisions in the Referendum:

• Whether to approve a new constitution The constitution grants immunity to the leaders of the 2010 coup d'état, which ousted Tandja MAMADOU, and stipulates they have to hand over power by 6 April 2011

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 16,291,990 (2010)
• Registered Voters: 6,720,335 (October 2010)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 8,090,309 (2010)

·         Is Niger a signatory to CEDAW: No

·         Has Niger ratified CEDAW: Yes, accession (8 October 1999)

·         Gender Quota: Yes

·         Female candidates in this election: N/A

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 11 (following the 2009 elections)

·         Human Development Index Position: 188 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Very High (2014)

Disability Data:

·         Is Niger a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)

·         Has Niger ratified CRPD: Yes (24 June 2008)

·         Population with a disability: 2,443,798 (est.)