Niger: Bazoum leads 2nd round of presidential poll

By Aurore Bonny

LOME, Togo (AA) - Niger's Mohamed Bazoum is leading the second round of Sunday's presidential election, according to the country's electoral commission.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) released provisional results of the election on Monday.

Bazoum, the ruling Party for Democracy and Socialism candidate and the winner of the first round, is leading with 54.1% or 191,554 votes. His rival, Mahamane Ousmane, the candidate of the Democratic and Republic Rally, is trailing with 161,960 votes.

More than 7 million people have been registered for this ballot but only nearly 370,000 have voted. The participation rate was 4.95%.

These results are valid for 38 communes out of 266 and for all regions of Niger except Diffa where there were no results, according to the CENI.