Elections in Niger take place within the framework of a semi-presidential system. The President and National Assembly are elected by the public, with elections organised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI). Electoral history Following World War II, French political reforms meant that Niger began to elect members to the French National Assembly. The first of these elections took place on 21 October 1945, with Niger and neighbouring French Sudan (now Mali) combined into a single constituency. Two MPs were elected using separate electoral colleges for French citizens and Africans. The next elections for the combined constituency held in June 1946. By the November 1946 elections, Niger had become a single-member seat, which was won by Hamani Diori of the Nigerien Progressive Party (PPN). A General Council was established in the same period and was first elected in December 1946 and January 1947. 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. French elections were held again in 1951, with both seats won by UNIS. 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. The final French National Assembly election in Niger was held in 1956, with the PPN and an alliance of the Nigerien Action Bloc (BNA) and Nigerien Progressive Union (UPN) of Condat winning one seat each. The 1957 Territorial Assembly elections were won by Sawaba, which took 41 of the 60 seats. However, in early elections the following year, Sawaba was defeated by the Union for the Franco-African Community alliance, which included the PPN. Upon independence in 1960, the PPN became the sole legal party. The country's first presidential elections were held in September 1965, with Diori as the sole candidate. Parliamentary elections later in the year resulted in the PPN winning all 50 seats. Presidential and parliamentary elections in 1970 were held under the same system with the same result. A 1974 coup removed the PPN from power, and elections were not held again until 1989, when general elections were called, with the National Movement for the Development of Society (MNSD), established earlier in the year, as the sole party. Ali Saibou (who had been in power