The first of these elections took place on 21 October 1945, with Niger and neighbouring French Sudan (now Mali) combined into a single constituency.
By the November 1946 elections, Niger had become a single-member seat, which was won by Hamani Diori of the Nigerien Progressive Party (PPN).
[1] In 1948 Niger was given a second seat in the French National Assembly, which was filled in a by-election in June that year, with Georges Condat of the Union of Nigerien Independents and Sympathisers elected.
The General Council was converted into the Territorial Assembly in 1952, with the first elections to the new body resulting in a victory for UNIS, which won all 35 Second College seats.
However, in early elections the following year, Sawaba was defeated by the Union for the Franco-African Community alliance, which included the PPN.
Ali Saibou (who had been in power since 1987) was re-elected President, with the MNSD winning all 93 seats in the National Assembly.
Following a split in the AFC, early parliamentary elections were held in 1995,[4] but did not significantly alter the makeup of the National Assembly.
The National Union of Independents for Democratic Renewal, formed to support him, won an absolute majority in the parliamentary elections later in the year amidst an opposition boycott.
Tandja was elected president and the MNSD emerged as the largest party in the National Assembly with 38 of the 83 seats.