At stake in this election:

• The office of President of Niger

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 through a two-round system to serve a 4-year term.
• Prime Minister is appointed by the President.
• 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 Candidates in the Second Round of the Presidential race:

• Seyni OUMAROU
  • Party: National Movement for the Development of Society (MNSD-NASSARA) / Mouvement National pour la Société du Développement
• Mahamadou ISSOUFOU
  • Party: Parti nigérien pour la démocratie et le socialisme (PNDS)

Main Candidates in the First Round of the Presidential race:

• Seyni OUMAROU
  • Party: National Movement for the Development of Society (MNSD-NASSARA) / Mouvement National pour la Société du Développement
• Hama AMADOU
  • Party: Mouvement démocratique nigérien
• Mahamadou ISSOUFOU
  • Party: Parti nigérien pour la démocratie et le socialisme (PNDS)
• Mahamane OUSMANE
  • Party: Convention démocratique et sociale / (CDS)

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 16,946,485 (2011)
• Registered Voters: 6,740,046 (2011)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 8,412,440 (2011)

·         Is Niger a signatory to CEDAW: No

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

·         Gender Quota: Yes

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes

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

·         Human Development Index Position: 188

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

Disability Data:

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

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

·         Population with a disability: 2,541,972 (est.)