Niger citizens began to vote in the presidential and legislative elections on Sunday morning.

The first round of Niger presidential and legislative elections started around 8 a.m. at polling stations nationwide. 

More than 7.4 million people are called to vote in about 26,000 polling stations and choose among 30 candidates the successor of the incumbent President Mahamadou Issoufou, who is not running for a third term, as well as 171 representatives in parliament among 4,205 contestants representing more than one hundred political parties.

Seini Oumarou, former Prime Minister of Niger from the National Movement for the Development of Society, former president Mahamane Ousmane, Mohamed Bazoum from the Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism, and Albade Abouba from the Patriotic Movement for the Republic are main competitors for the presidential election.