By Karim Bah
Democracy goes far beyond elections. But elections are fundamental in the democratization of a country.
Unlike the US, we the citizens of Salone do not recognize Maada Bio as President. The elections must be re-run for any semblance of democracy to prevail.
If Maada Bio gets away with this electoral coup, then we must wave bye bye to elections. We should not be surprised if coup d’etats become the order of the day in the country again. We don’t wish for this to happen but unfortunately if electoral process is rigged and ECSL can announce falsified results then this will be our reality.
What we are seeing in Niger did not just happen. President Mohamed Bazoum of Niger who was recently removed from power by the military, was imposed in a rigged elections by his predecessor (Mohamadou Issoufou) who had handpicked him from within the PNDS (Nigerian Party for Democracy and Socialism).
Since coming to power, Bazoum engaged in weaposning state institutions, imprisoning opposition members, civil society leaders and journalists.
A false mandate, like the one which Maada Bio and his Bo-school friend Mohamed Konneh, will lead to uncertainty and instability. Even Maada Bio knows he lost the elections and his future hangs in the balance.
