Nearly a quarter of voters in Niger – 1.5 million people – will be barred from casting their ballots in next month’s presidential poll, the government said, after politicians failed to agree on a system to register them.
Tensions were already running high in the unstable West African state which is a key Western ally in the fight against Islamist militants across the Sahel region, Reuters reported.
There was no immediate reaction from rights groups who regularly accuse the government of crackdowns on the opposition, or from electoral officials. Reuters reported.
Around 1.5 million of Niger’s registered voters lack the documentation required to prove their identity, and the Independent National Electoral Commission had proposed a system whereby witnesses could vouch for them.
But politicians failed to approve it at a meeting on Friday.
“There was no consensus among the political class and therefore 1.5 million Nigeriens cannot exercise their right to vote on February 21,” Reuters quoted Alkassoum Indatou, spokesman for the presidential majority, as saying on state TV on Friday night.
The main opposition parties issued a statement confirming the impasse, without going into further details.
It was not immediately clear whether the registration problems would affect some parts of the country or political blocs more than others.