Veteran opposition leader, Mahamadou Issoufou was declared winner Monday of presidential polls ending a year-long military junta in Niger, which remains deeply poor despite massive uranium reserves.

In his fifth shot at the country's top job, the 59-year-old leader of the Social Democratic Party won 58 percent of the vote, electoral commission head Gousmane Abdourahamane said at a ceremony in Niamey.

According to AFP, former Prime Minister, Seini Oumarou, 60, took 42 percent of the votes in Sunday's run-off poll.

The election in the vast desert nation, which has a history of coups, is aimed at returning democracy after former president Mamadou Tandja was ousted by the army in February 2010.

Observers from the African Union and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and France lauded the country for its peaceful election and said the poll was a model for the rest of the continent.

The former colonial power said acceptance of the result was "essential".

The run-off brought political champions from opposite ends of the political spectrum face to face, Issoufou being an historic opponant of Tandja's regime with Oumarou the self-proclaimed "heir" of the fallen president.

The Social Democratic Party chief, who led after the first round on January 31, strengthened his push for the presidency by forging alliances, especially with Hama Amadou, another former premier under Tandja who garnered 19 percent in the first round vote.

During the election campaign, both candidates promised to dissolve parliament and organise legislative elections for a more representative assembly in the vast, landlocked country on the edge of the Sahara desert.

And they vowed to tackle the poverty that afflicts some 60 percent of the population, find protection against cyclical food crises, and ensure an equitable distribution of the wealth from uranium.

Voter turnout was just over 48 percent, down from 51.5 percent in the first round.

The provisional results announced Monday must be sent to the constitutional council which has 15 days to proclaim the final outcome. Issoufou, a longtime opponent of Tandja's regime, is due to be sworn in on April 6.

Since independence from France in 1960, Niger has been wracked by coups and faced a Tuareg rebellion in the north of the country.

And in recent years it has become one of the bases for Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which has been responsible for kidnappings and killings of Westerners in the region.

Tags: Sports, Nigeria