Parliamentary elections were held in Niger on 20 October 2009, after President Mamadou Tandja dissolved the National Assembly in May 2009 and a constitution referendum was held in August 2009. The elections were boycotted by most opposition parties, and saw Tandja's National Movement for the Development of Society (MNSD) win a landslide victory. Background The Independent Electoral Commission announced on 15 May 2009 that the elections would be held on 28 November 2009, between the first and second rounds of the planned presidential elections on 14 November and 6 December 2009. However, the Electoral Commission announced in June that the parliamentary elections would be moved to 20 August, two weeks after the controversial referendum on a new constitution that allowed Tandja to remain in office until 2012. Constitutional crisis This period prior to the elections was dominated by controversy regarding Tandja's efforts to have the constitution changed so that he would be allowed to run for re-election; those efforts were opposed by the opposition, as well as parties within the presidential majority coalition and some elements of the MNSD. In May 2009, after Tandja informed the National Assembly of his plans to call a referendum on the matter, 23 deputies asked the Constitutional Court to rule on whether he could do so. The Court ruled against Tandja on 25 May 2009; it said that although article 49 of the constitution allowed the President to call referendums, it should not be interpreted to mean he could call referendums on the content of the constitution itself, because the presidential oath required him to respect the constitution. Tandja then promptly dissolved the National Assembly on 26 May. It was suggested that he did so because he was concerned that the government would lose its parliamentary majority and face a vote of no confidence. The election date was originally set by the Supreme Court on 19 June 2009. The Chairman of the 66 member decentralized organization which operates and certifies all elections, Niger National Independent Election Commission (CENI), Moumouni Hamidou stated, following the 18 June Court decision, that they would not hold the 4 August referendum, and were preparing almost 7 million voting cards for the 20 August legislative election. Despite this, Interior Minister Albade Abouba announced on 28 June, following Tandja's assumption of emergency powers, that both the 4 August referendum and the 20 August parliamentary elections would go ahead. Campaign On 19