/ 9 February 1999

NIGER ORDERS ELECTION RERUN

A SPECIAL cabinet meeting in Niger ordered a rerun on Monday of local elections in areas where there was “trouble”, the independent radio station Tenr FM reports. The decision follows reports of violence in several regions during the counting after Sunday’s vote, with election material, computer equipment, ballot boxes and returns destroyed. State radio said a number of constituencies were unable to supply results. The municipal, regional and departmental polls are seen as the last electoral stage in Niger’s restoration of democracy and as a crucial phase in decentralisation.