From the Archives – Niger’s Election in 1962
From the Archives
“From the Archives” is a quarterly blog, highlighting historical milestones in AAI and African history. This blog post features verbatim historical documents from AAI’s files and articles from Africa Report, a monthly publication of in-depth analysis and reports chronicling the continent’s dramatic political and economic developments.
Published from 1956 through 1995, Africa Report became the most significant Africa-focused publication in the U.S.
Africa Report – February 1963
Extensive Participation in Niger Elections
“Some 1,209,032 persons (86.76 percent of those registered) voted in Niger’s December 2-3 elections for the local Conseils de Circonscriptions, recently formed to promote administrative decentralization. In a pre-election broadcast, Diamballa Yansambou Maiga, Minister of Interior, stressed that a failure to go to the polls would indicate “a criminal disinterestedness, and a lack of civic spirit and patriotism.”
In the 1958 referendum, only 400,000 voters cast ballots.”