Niamey - A jailed presidential candidate facing baby-trafficking charges, a failed military coup, a string of contentious detentions, fears of jihadist attacks - Niger's weekend election has all the makings of a political thriller.
A vast desert nation blessed with immense riches of uranium, gold, iron and oil but reputedly the poorest on the planet, Niger elects a new head of state on Sunday with outgoing President Mahamadou Issoufou hoping for a second five-year term.
The country's 18 million people are not just wrestling with entrenched poverty but also a history marked by military coups.
Multi-party democracy dates back only to 1990.
In an interview with AFP on Thursday, Issoufou said he was “absolutely” confident of victory and predicted a runoff vote would not even be needed.
“Everyone agrees that something unprecedented is happening in Niger - a candidate is going to win the presidential election in the first round,” he said.
He pointed to his campaign slogan - “Promises met” - as proof that he had kept his pledges on growth and infrastructure, while shoring up security in the face of attacks by jihadists from neighbouring Nigeria, Mali and Libya.
Known as the “zaki” or “lion” in Hausa, the majority language in Niger, Issoufou, a 63-year-old mathematician and mining engineer turned politician, faces 14 challengers.
Thousands of his supporters, wearing his campaign colour of pink, turned out for a final rally on Thursday at the sports stadium in Niamey, Niger's capital.
Moussa Tchangari, a leading civil society and opposition figure who heads “Alternative Espace Citoyen”, a rights and development group, fears there could be trouble.
“Everyone is afraid the outcome could be exceptionally serious,” he said.
Like Tchangari, traditional leaders and religious groups have issued calls for calm.
Niger's problems run deep.
Three people out of four are surviving on less than two dollars a day and desertification, driven also by climate change, is pushing struggling rural people into towns.
“There's too much poverty here, it's tough,” said Mahamata Sidy who runs a streetside food stall.
The UN expects two million people will need food aid this year in Niger, which has the world's highest fertility rate and where the average age is 15.
Defence meanwhile remains a top budget priority for the government, over the threat of raids by jihadist groups in the remote north and attacks by Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamists on the southeast border.
With UN help, the government last month moved 99 schools to “safer zones” out of harm's way from Boko Haram.
And in December, the government said it had foiled an attempted military coup. Twelve soldiers and a civilian have since been arrested.
A total of 7.5 million voters are being called to the polls, with results due within five days.
Issoufou faces a particularly tough challenge from two former prime ministers and an ex-president.
Should he fail to snatch a first-round victory, the frontrunners have struck a deal to rally behind whichever of the three scores highest in the hope of ditching the president.
Heading the pack is 66-year-old opposition figure Hama Amadou, who is campaigning from behind bars after being arrested in November on his return from exile in France over his alleged role in a baby-trafficking scandal.
Amadou, a former premier and parliament speaker, heads the Nigerien Democratic Movement (NDM) whose members were tear-gassed by police this month after gathering in their thousands to support the prisoner-candidate, known as “the phoenix” for his ability to rise from the ashes.
He was denied bail though several other senior political, military and business figures facing accusations in the trafficking case have been released pending trial. He has said the case was a ploy to keep him out of the elections.
Seini Oumarou, 65 and nicknamed “the wise man”, was runner-up to Issoufou in the last 2011 presidential race and served as premier to charismatic president Mamadou Tandja, who was overthrown by the army in 2010 after 10 years at the helm.
He is running for the National Movement for the Society of Development (NMSD).
Also among the favourites is Niger's first-ever democratically elected president, Mahamane Ousmane, 66, who is on his fourth bid to step back into the job since his 1993 election.
AFP