Statement by the Press Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, on the Presidential Election in the Republic of Niger

February 4, 2011
Japanese

On Monday, January 31, the first round of voting took place as scheduled for the presidential and parliamentary elections in the Republic of Niger. These were the first national elections since the coup d’état took place in February 2010, and are of great significance from the standpoint of advancing the democratic process in the country.
Election observers from Japan, other countries, and international organizations were deployed to various areas for the elections. Japan welcomes the fact that the first round of voting was conducted in a largely peaceful manner without major incident.
Japan hopes that the second round of voting will also be conducted peacefully, and that all parties will remain calm until the publication of final results.

(*This is a provisional translation. The above date denotes the date of the issue of the original press release in Japanese.)

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