mahamadou issoufou (born 1 january 1951) is a nigerien politician who was the president of niger from 2011 until 2021. issoufou was the prime minister of niger from 1993 to 1994, president of the national assembly from february 1995 to 27 january 1996, and he has been a candidate in each presidential election since 1993. he led the nigerien party for democracy and socialism (pnds-tarayya), a social democratic party, from its foundation in 1990 until his election as president of niger in 2011. during the presidency of mamadou tandja (1999–2010), issoufou was the main opposition leader.