Mauritania: President Ould Ghazouani re-elected as opposition kicks against provisional results

Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani has won the country’s presidential election conducted on Saturday.

The incumbent leader will continue ruling for another term with provisional results from over 99.27% of polling stations released by the West African nation’s electoral commission.

Data from Mauritania’s independent electoral commission’s website showed that Mr. Ghazouani was re-elected in the Saturday election with over 56% of the vote.

Ghazouani’s victory in the election was widely anticipated by analysts, given the dominant position of Mauritania‘s ruling party.

With six opponents vying for the presidency, Ghazouani’s strong political backing and the ruling party’s influence were expected to secure his win, avoiding the need for a second round of voting.

Biram Dah Abeid, a prominent anti-slavery activist, trailed behind with 22.14% of the vote, followed by Hamadi Sidi El Mokhtar of the Islamist Tewassoul party with 12.8%.

However, Abeid has disputed the results, alleging fraud and vowing to reject the official outcome. “We will not recognize these results from the so-called independent electoral commission,” Abeid declared at a press conference in the capital, Nouakchott, adding that his team would announce their own results through their own electoral commission.

A similar incident occurred in the 2019 poll as some opposition candidates questioned the integrity of the vote, thereby leading to small-scale agitations.