Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani has secured re-election, according to provisional results from over 99.27% of polling stations, released by the West African nation’s electoral commission on Sunday. Ghazouani was re-elected in Saturday’s election with over 56% of the vote, based on results from 4,468 out of 4,503 polling stations.
The 67-year-old former army chief of staff and defense minister, who was first elected in 2019, has promised to boost investment to spur a commodities boom in Mauritania, a country of 5 million people. Mauritania is set to begin natural gas production by the end of the year.
Analysts had anticipated Ghazouani’s victory in the first round, largely due to the dominance of Mauritania’s ruling party. His main rival, anti-slavery activist Biram Dah Abeid, secured 22.14% of the vote, while Hamadi Sidi El Mokhtar of the Islamist Tewassoul party garnered 12.8%.
Earlier on Sunday, Abeid rejected the provisional results, alleging irregularities and stating, “We’ll not accept these results from the so-called independent electoral commission. We’ll use our own electoral commission to proclaim the results.” This statement was made during a news conference in the capital, Nouakchott.
El Mokhtar had previously warned that his party would not accept the results if it suspected rigging. In the 2019 election, some opposition candidates questioned the credibility of the vote, leading to small-scale protests. Preliminary figures showed a turnout of just under 55.33% for Saturday’s vote, according to the electoral commission’s data.
Melissa Enoch
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