NIAMEY, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Niger's legislative elections ended smoothly late Tuesday after opened in the morning without major incidences being reported.

"We have not encountered any problem. All went on smoothly," declared Alio Idrissa, a presiding officer in a polling center the Urban Community in the capital Niamey.

Voters witnessed queuing at the polling centers into the night marked a high rate of turnout.

"The populations remarkably turned out in large numbers in the afternoon and by the time we were closing we had not encountered any problem. We are straight away going to start counting the votes and get results which we shall submit to the National independent electoral commission," another presiding officer of the Urban Community in Niamey said.

The elections were organized in conformity to the requirements of the new constitution which came after a referendum held on Aug.4 and promulgated on Aug. 18.

The elections will result in a new National Assembly after the dissolution of the previous one on May 26 by President Mamadou Tandja.

The opposition which was united under the name Forces for Democracy and the Republic (CFDR) boycotted the elections, challenging the legality of the referendum which allows Tandja to run for another term of office.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has banned President Tandja and Guinea military junta leader Moussa Camara from contesting elections in their countries.

ECOWAS condemned the referendum held in Niger on Aug. 4 to allow Tandja's participation in the presidential election, denouncing it as a violation of the ECOWAS supplementary protocol on democracy and good governance.

The regional leaders urged Tandja to suspend indefinitely the legislative elections and to go into dialogue with the political parties over the matter.

President Tandja, 71, has been in power since 1999. He dissolved the Nigerien parliament and called a referendum early last month in a bid to extend his tenure which expires in December2009.