Freedom in the World 1999 - Niger

1999 Scores

Status: Partly Free
Freedom Rating: 5.0
Civil Liberties: 5
Political Rights: 5

Ratings Change

Niger's political rights rating changed from 7 to 5, and its status from Not Free to Partly Free, due to free and fair elections in November following a military takeover in April.

Overview

Niger experienced both violent and democratic change with the assassination in April 1999 of the military ruler General Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara and the holding of presidential and legislative elections in November. Maïnassara, who himself seized power in 1996 and ran an increasingly repressive state, was reportedly killed by members of his presidential guard. Authorities described the assassination as "an unfortunate accident." Major Daouda Malam Wanke, the head of the presidential guard, assumed power as president and head of the National Council for Reconciliation. In May he named a 60-member Independent National Election Commission with input from the opposition. A referendum on a new constitution was held in July with universal suffrage. It provided for power sharing between the president and prime minister and amnesty for those involved in the coups that had brought both Maïnassara and Wanke to power.

The November 1999 presidential and legislative elections were hailed as free and fair by international observers. Mamadou Tandja, a former army officer, won the presidency in a second round of polling with about 60 percent of the vote. He defeated former President Mahamane Ousmane, Niger's first democratically elected head of state who had served for less than three years before Maïnassara overthrew him in 1996. Originally seven candidates vied for the presidency during the first round of voting in October. The new government takes power in January 2000.

After gaining independence from France in 1960, Niger was governed for 30 years by one-party and military regimes dominated by leaders of Hausa and Djerma ethnicity. After 13 years of direct military rule, Niger was transformed into a nominally civilian one-party state in 1987 under General Ali Seibou. International pressure and pro-democracy demonstrations forced Niger's rulers to accede to the Africa-wide trend towards democratization in 1990. An all-party national conference drafted a new constitution that was adopted in a national referendum in 1992. The Alliance of Forces for Change (AFC), led by Mahamane Ousmane, took the majority of seats in 1993 legislative elections that were deemed free and fair by international observers. Ousmane then won a five-year term as the country's first democratically elected president. New elections were called for 1995 after defections cost the AFC its parliamentary majority. Ensuing rivalry between the president and the prime minister paralyzed the government and was cited by Maïnassara as a justification for his coup.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties

The people of Niger have had two chances, in 1993 and 1999, to change their leaders democratically. The July 1996 presidential election that followed the January 1996 military coup was held under a revised constitution and was not deemed free or fair by independent observers. Parliamentary elections in November 1996 were held in an atmosphere of intense intimidation and were boycotted by most opposition parties. In 1999, Tandja's party, the National Movement for Society in Development and its partner the Democratic and Social Convention, achieved a two-thirds majority in the national assembly by winning 55 of the 83 seats. The other coalition – the Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism and the Rally for Democracy and Progress – won the other 28 seats.

The new constitution guarantees human rights protection, freedom of assembly, and freedom of the press. The president is "politically unprosecutable," except in the case of treason and may exercise exceptional powers in a crisis. The constitution does not allow an elected member of parliament to cross to other parties while serving. It also provides for five new bodies: the constitutional court, the council of the republic, the supreme council of defense, the economic and social council and the supreme council of communication.

The judicial system is theoretically independent, but has retained little autonomy. The constitutional court under the new constitution will comprise two judges, one lawyer, one teacher from the law faculty, and one representative of civil society. The president and the speaker of parliament will each nominate a representative in the seven-member court. Courts have been subject to external influences and limited by scant training and resources. Thousands of pretrial detainees are imprisoned under very difficult and sometimes deadly conditions.

Constitutional guarantees of freedom of assembly and association were not respected under the Maïnassara government, but there were substantial improvements during the Wanke administration. The Wanke government had banned members of the former government from leaving the capital while their conduct was being investigated, and he set up a national commission to fight fraud and embezzlement of public property and money.

Freedom of religion is respected, although political parties formed on religious, ethnic, or regional bases are barred. Human rights and other nongovernmental organizations have been allowed to operate more freely since Wanke took power.

Constitutional protections for free expression were often ignored by security forces under Maïnassara, but there are guarantees for greater freedom under the new constitution. However, the publisher of the weekly Le Democrate newspaper, Bory Seyni, was briefly detained in December 1999 over a published interview with the widow of the late president. She called Wanke the "prime suspect in my husband's assassination."

Islamic conservatives have squelched moves to amend portions of the legal code most discriminatory against women. A number of laws and the practice of "proxy voting" by husbands for their wives appear to contradict constitutional guarantees. Women also suffer extensive societal discrimination. Family law gives women inferior status in property, inheritance rights, and divorce. Domestic violence against women is reportedly widespread. The Wanke government ratified an international convention against discrimination against women, angering Islamic conservative groups in the country in August. One woman won a seat in the new parliament out of the 28 who contested.

Notice of intent must be given and negotiations attempted before a strike is legal, and workers can be required to provide essential services. Collective bargaining agreements are negotiated under the framework of a tripartite agreement among the government, employers, and unions.