Opposition warns no easy poll victory for Niger 'Lion'

Niger's veteran opposition leader Mahamadou Issoufou casts his vote at a polling station in the election which he won.

Niger's opposition warned there would be no easy victory at the polls for incumbent Mahamadou Issoufou despite his vow of a first-round "knockout" blow, as voting continued on Monday for a second day.

"There will be a second round," said a spokesperson for former premier Seini Oumarou, one of the leading opposition candidates.

Known as the "Zaki" or "Lion" in Hausa, the majority language in Niger, Issoufou is seeking a second five-year term.

In an interview with AFP last week, the 63-year-old leader said he was "absolutely" confident of a swift victory in Sunday's first round of the poll.

"If [Issoufou's] knockout blow fails, that will be a victory for us and a setback for him, because he made a point" of pledging a quick outright win, said Oumarou's spokesperson Moussa Harouna.

Should he fail to win a first-round victory, his rivals, who have accused him of planning to rig the result, have agreed to unite behind whoever scores highest among them for the second round run-off.

In the capital Niamey, long a bastion of jailed former prime minister Hama Amadou, several sources said he picked up most votes in Sunday's first round.

The former premier and parliament speaker campaigned for the election from behind bars after being arrested in November over his alleged role in a baby-trafficking scandal.

"As promised, he will go from prison to the presidency," a spokesperson for Amadou said. "The results are beyond our expectations. We aren't just confident: we are very, very, very confident".