Coup leader Daouda Mallam Wanké initiated a transitional period that concluded with the victory of Mamadou Tandja, the candidate of the National Movement for the Society of Development (MNSD), over Mahamadou Issoufou, the candidate of the Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS), in the run-off.

[1] The vote for the first National Assembly of the Fifth Republic, which had originally been scheduled for October, but delayed in August,[2] also saw a victory for the MNSD, which won 38 of the 83 seats.

It formed a coalition with the Democratic and Social Convention in order to gain a majority in the Assembly.

[3] Following the April 1999 coup, Wanké called for new presidential and parliamentary elections late in the year and barred the participation of candidates from the military.

[5] Eight candidates sought to run in the presidential elections, including two rival candidates from the Rally for Democracy and Progress-Jama'a (RDP), which had been the ruling party under Maïnassara; Hamid Algabid and Amadou Cissé.