NOUAKCHOTT: Mauritania’s incumbent President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani has comfortably won re-election with 56.12 percent of the vote, the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) said Monday.
Victory gives the former army chief a second term as head of the vast desert country, seen as a rock of relative stability in Africa’s volatile Sahel region and set to become a gas producer.
Ghazouani would have faced a second round had he not won more than half the votes in Saturday’s election. As it was, he placed well ahead of his main rival, anti-slavery activist Biram Dah Abeid, who won 22.10 percent, according to results announced by CENI chief Dah Ould Abdel Jelil.
Abeid said Sunday he would not recognize the results of CENI, which he accused of being manipulated by the government.
Ghazouani’s other main rival, Hamadi Ould Sid’ El Moctar, who heads the Tewassoul party, came third with 12.78 percent, according to CENI.
“We did everything we could to prepare the conditions for a good election and we were relatively successful,” said the head of the electoral commission.
A 2019 election brought Ghazouani to power, marking the first transition between two elected presidents since independence from France in 1960 and a series of coups from 1978 to 2008.
While the Sahel has in recent years seen a string of military coups and escalating extremism, particularly in Mali, Mauritania has not experienced an attack since 2011.
Ghazouani, 67, is widely regarded as the mastermind behind the West African state’s relative security.
Saturday’s presidential election had an overall turnout of 55.39 percent, lower than in 2019.
The results had trickled in since Saturday evening and were published continuously on an official online platform, giving an indication of the final outcome.
“We will only recognize our own results, and therefore we will take to the streets” to refuse the electoral commission count, opponent Abeid said.
Some of his supporters demonstrated in the capital Nouakchott late Sunday, burning tires and disrupting traffic.
At the end of the afternoon, Abeid’s campaign headquarters were surrounded by security forces, according to an AFP journalist. His campaign manager was arrested, a spokesman said.
The police presence in the capital increased significantly later in the evening.
El Moctar said Saturday that he would “remain attentive” to any breach of voting regulations, while calling on his supporters to steer clear of anything that could create public disorder.
Ghazouani has made helping the young a key priority in a country of 4.9 million people, where almost three quarters are aged under 35.
After a first term hit by the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, the incumbent says he hopes to make more reforms thanks to a favorable economic outlook.
Growth should average 4.9 percent (3.1 percent per capita) for the period 2024-2026, according to the World Bank, spurred by the launch of gas production in the second half of this year.
Inflation has fallen from a peak of 9.5 percent in 2022 to 5 percent in 2023, and should continue to slow to 2.5 percent in 2024.
Mauritania’s Ghazouani wins re-election with 56.12% of vote
https://arab.news/52r79
Mauritania’s Ghazouani wins re-election with 56.12% of vote
- Victory gives the former army chief a second term as head of the vast desert country
- Ghazouani, 67, is widely regarded as the mastermind behind the West African state’s relative security
Nigeria seeks French help to combat insecurity, says Macron
- African country has witnessed violence and mass kidnappings from schools
LAGOS: Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has sought more help from France to fight widespread violence in the north of the country, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday, weeks after the United States threatened to intervene to protect Nigeria’s Christians.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has witnessed an upsurge in attacks in volatile northern areas in the past month, including mass kidnappings
from schools and a church.
US President Donald Trump has raised the prospect of possible military action in Nigeria, accusing it of mistreating Christians. The government says the allegations misrepresent a complex security situation in which armed groups target both faith groups.
FASTFACTS
• US President Donald Trump has raised the prospect of possible military action in Nigeria, accusing it of mistreating Christians.
• The government says the allegations misrepresent a complex security situation in which armed groups target both faith groups.
Macron said he had a phone call with Tinubu on Sunday, where he conveyed France’s support to Nigeria as it grapples with several security challenges, “particularly the terrorist threat in the North.”
“At his request, we will strengthen our partnership with the authorities and our support for the affected populations. We call on all our partners to step up their engagement,” Macron said in a post on X.
Macron did not say what help would be offered by France, which has withdrawn its troops from West and Central Africa and plans to focus on training, intelligence sharing and responding to requests from countries for assistance.
Nigeria is grappling with a long-running insurgency in the northeast, armed kidnapping gangs in the northwest and deadly clashes between largely Muslim cattle herders and mostly Christian farmers in the central parts of the country, stretching its security forces.
Washington said last month that it was considering actions such as sanctions and Pentagon engagement on counterterrorism as part of a plan to compel Nigeria to better protect its Christian communities.
The Nigerian government has said it welcomes help to fight insecurity as long as its sovereignty is respected. France has previously supported efforts to curtail the actions of armed groups, the US has shared intelligence and sold arms, including fighter jets, and Britain has trained Nigerian troops.
