The Constitutional Court of Niger validated Sunday the results of the presidential election, confirming that Mohamed Bazoum of Niger's ruling Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS-TARAYYA) is elected president of the Republic of Niger.

According to a press release read on Nigerien public television, Bazoum gained 55.66 percent of the votes during the second round of presidential election held on Feb. 21.

His opponent, candidate from the Democratic and Republican Renewal Party, Mahamane Ousmane obtained 44.34 percent of the votes. President of Niger's Constitutional Court, Bouba Mahamane, said that the number of voters was 4,473,121 out of some 7.4 million registered, which was a turnout of 62.91 percent. Mohamed Bazoum is expected to be sworn in as president of Niger on April 2 this year, for a term of five years.

According to Niger's Constitution, the presidential candidate that gets more than 50 percent of the votes will win the election. If no one gets more than half of the votes in the first round, the candidates with the top two votes will enter the second round of competition. 

Bazoum and Ousmane gained 39.3 percent and 16.98 percent of the votes respectively during the first round of Niger's president election held on Dec. 27, 2020. The first round of Niger presidential and legislative elections was held on Dec. 27.

More than 7.4 million people were called to vote in about 26,000 polling stations and choose among 30 candidates the successor of incumbent President Mahamadou Issoufou, who is not running for a third term, as well as 171 representatives in parliament among 4,205 contestants representing more than 100 political parties.