Niger: Muslims push for vote boycott

  1. Posted on Thursday 28 October 2010 - 10:12
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    John Afful Jnr, AfricaNews reporter in Takoradi, Ghana
    Muslim groups in Niger have pushed for voters to boycott a weekend referendum on a new constitution aimed at setting the terms of a return to civilian rule with protest that it neglected Islam.
    Niger map
    The new constitution seeks to undo new presidential powers that Mamadou Tandja had awarded to himself before his overthrown and also to make way for improved governance in the mining sector of a country which is nuclear-power France's top uranium-supplier.

    Harouni Fodi of the Islamic association Anassi has said that the push for the boycott is also to formalize a separation of powers between the secular state and Islam in a country 98% of whose 15 million citizens are Muslim.

    "Separating state and religion means quite simply that Allah does not figure as a priority in this state funded by the money of Muslims - that you can govern Nigeriens with all sorts of atheistic, anti-religious ideologies and ideas" he said.

    According to Reuters, the country's Muslim groups are seen as influential and Sunday's vote is the first in a series of elections due to end in the swearing-in of a new civilian leader by April next year, replacing the leaders of February's coup against former president Mamadou Tandja.

    The groups have blocked or forced changes in a number of planned reforms on family law or women's rights in recent years.

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