Editing Politics of Niger (section)

====Continuity====
Since the creation of the Fifth Republic in 1999, the political rivalries and parties of the Third Republic have maintained their central role in national politics.  There continue to be three large parties, and several smaller ones, with no single party gaining a majority in the [[National Assembly of Niger]].  In the Third Republic a coalition of the CDS and PNDS was formed with many small parties, in part to keep the former military party of the MNSD out of power.<ref name=MNSD>Jibrin Ibrahim and Abdoulayi Niandou Souley, [http://www.unisa.ac.za/default.asp?Cmd=ViewContent&ContentID=11625 "The rise to power of an opposition party: the MNSD in Niger Republic"], Unisa Press, Politeia, Vol. 15, No. 3, 1996.</ref> This coalition collapsed in recriminations in 1995, leading to a PNDS and MNSD government facing a CDS President.  The bad blood and gridlock resulting was one reasons for General Maïnassara's [[1996 Nigerien coup d'etat]].<ref name=My>Myriam Gervais, "Niger: Regime Change, Economic Crisis, and Perpetuation of Privilege", in ''Political Reform in Francophone Africa'' (1997), ed. John F. Clark and David E. Gardinier, pages 100&ndash;101.</ref>

The same three men who dominated the parties in the Third Republic returned in 1999: [[Mamadou Tanja]] for the [[MNSD-Nassara]], [[Mahamadou Issoufou]] of the [[Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism|PNDS]], and [[Mahamane Ousmane]] of [[CDS-Rahama]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Di Lorenzo |first=Amanda |last2=Sborgi |first2=Enrico |date=2001-09-01 |title=The 1999 presidential and legislative elections in Niger |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0261379400000202 |journal=Electoral Studies |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=470–476 |doi=10.1016/S0261-3794(00)00020-2 |issn=0261-3794}}</ref>