Parliamentary elections were held in Niger on 23 November 1996. They followed the constitutional changes approved in a referendum earlier in the year, which re-introduced multi-party democracy suspended by an earlier military coup. However, the eight main opposition parties boycotted the elections after forming the Front for the Restoration and Defence of Democracy.^[1] The result was a victory for the National Union of Independents for Democratic Renewal, which won 59 of the 83 seats,^[1] three of which were won in by-elections after the original result had been invalidated by the Supreme Court.