NOUAKCHOTT: Mauritanians head to the polls on Saturday in a presidential election that sees incumbent Mohamed Ould Ghazouani taking on six challengers in the West African desert nation that will soon become a gas producer.
Ghazouani, 67, a former top soldier, has promised to accelerate investments to spur a commodities boom in the country of 5 million people, many of whom live in poverty despite its fossil fuel and minerals wealth.
Elected for a first term in 2019, Ghazouani is widely expected to win Saturday’s vote due to the ruling party’s dominance.
His six opponents include anti-slavery activist Biram Dah Abeid, who came second in 2019 with over 18 percent of the vote, lawyer Id Mohameden M’Bareck, economist Mohamed Lemine El Mourtaji El Wafi, and Hamadi Sidi El Mokhtar of the Islamist Tewassoul party.
Some 2 million people are registered to vote. Key issues for them include fighting corruption and job creation for young people.
If re-elected, Ghazouani has promised a gas-fired power plant from the Greater Tortue Ahmeyin (GTA) offshore gas project, which is on track to start production by the end of the year. He also pledged to invest in renewable energy and expand gold, uranium, and iron ore mining.
Ghazouani has presided over a period of relative stability since 2019, as Mauritania’s Sahel neighbors, including Mali, struggle with Islamist insurgencies that have led to military coups.
Mauritania has not recorded a militant attack on its soil in recent years and Ghazouani, who currently chairs the African Union, has promised to manage Islamist threats.
Prominent activist Abeid is challenging Ghazouani on his human rights record and the marginalization of Mauritania’s Black African population, while El Mokhtar has a following among conservative and religious voters.
Even so, Ghazouani “is likely to win a second term, probably in the first round,” said Carine Gazier, sub-Saharan Africa specialist at the Concerto consultancy.
If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote, the election would go to a second round.
One opposition supporter in the capital Nouakchott who spoke on condition of anonymity thought Ghazouani might struggle to win outright “if the votes are conducted transparently.”
In the last election, some opposition candidates questioned the credibility of the vote, sparking some small-scale protests.
Polls are scheduled to open at 7 a.m. GMT and close at 7 p.m. GMT.
Mauritanians go to the polls as Ghazouani seeks re-election
https://arab.news/ykkc8
Mauritanians go to the polls as Ghazouani seeks re-election
- Incumbent President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani is widely expected to win Saturday’s vote due to the ruling party’s dominance
- He has presided over a period of relative stability since 2019, while Mauritania’s Sahel neighbors struggle with Islamist insurgencies
US bars five Europeans it says pressured tech firms to censor American viewpoints online
WASHINGTON: The State Department announced Tuesday it was barring five Europeans it accused of leading efforts to pressure US tech firms to censor or suppress American viewpoints.
The Europeans, characterized by Secretary of State Marco Rubio as “radical” activists and “weaponized” nongovernmental organizations, fell afoul of a new visa policy announced in May to restrict the entry of foreigners deemed responsible for censorship of protected speech in the United States.
“For far too long, ideologues in Europe have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to punish American viewpoints they oppose,” Rubio posted on X. “The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate these egregious acts of extraterritorial censorship.”
The five Europeans were identified by Sarah Rogers, the under secretary of state for public diplomacy, in a series of posts on social media. They include the leaders of organizations that address digital hate and a former European Union commissioner who clashed with tech billionaire Elon Musk over broadcasting an online interview with Donald Trump.
Rubio’s statement said they advanced foreign government censorship campaigns against Americans and US companies, which he said created “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences” for the US
The action to bar them from the US is part of a Trump administration campaign against foreign influence over online speech, using immigration law rather than platform regulations or sanctions.
The five Europeans named by Rogers are: Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate; Josephine Ballon and Anna-Lena von Hodenberg, leaders of HateAid, a German organization; Clare Melford, who runs the Global Disinformation Index; and former EU Commissioner Thierry Breton, who was responsible for digital affairs.
Rogers in her post on X called Breton, a French business executive and former finance minister, the “mastermind” behind the EU’s Digital Services Act, which imposes a set of strict requirements designed to keep Internet users safe online. This includes flagging harmful or illegal content like hate speech.
She referred to Breton warning Musk of a possible “amplification of harmful content” by broadcasting his livestream interview with Trump in August 2024 when he was running for president.
Breton responded Tuesday on X by noting that all 27 EU members voted for the Digital Services Act in 2022. “To our American friends: ‘Censorship isn’t where you think it is,’” he wrote.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said France condemns the visa restrictions on Breton and the four others. Also posting on X, he said the DSA was adopted to ensure that “what is illegal offline is also illegal online.” He said it “has absolutely no extraterritorial reach and in no way concerns the United States.”
Most Europeans are covered by the Visa Waiver Program, which means they don’t necessarily need visas to come into the country. They do, however, need to complete an online application prior to arrival under a system run by the Department of Homeland Security, so it is possible that at least some of these five people have been flagged to DHS, a US official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss details not publicly released.
Other visa restriction policies were announced this year, along with bans targeting foreign visitors from certain African and Middle Eastern countries and the Palestinian Authority. Visitors from some countries could be required to post a financial bond when applying for a visa.
