Mauritania - presidential election

Mauritanians vote for a new president

Article published on the 2009-07-18 Latest update 2009-07-18 15:18 TU

Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, 20 May 2009
(Photo: Manon Rivière/ RFI)

Mauritanians vote for a new president Saturday, almost a year after a coup deposed their first elected president. Among the nine candidates is coup leader General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who stepped down as leader of the junta running the country in April and resigned from the army in order to run in the election.

Voters have been going to the polls peacefully, says correspondent Ahmed Salem Ould Boukhari, reporting from the capital, Nouakchott.

“It is peaceful, it is quiet, there is no problem,” he said. “Until this moment, there is no vilence in this operation, people are voting in the calm.”

This is the first election since Ould Abdel Aziz and the military junta overthrew President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi on 6 August 2008, alarming the international community, including France.

The country’s three main opposition leaders are all running: Ahmed Ould Daddah, head of the Rally of Democratic Forces, the main opposition party; parliamentary speaker Messaoud Ould Boulkheir, running for the National Front for the Defence of Democracy; and Jemil Ould Mansour, leader of the Islamist party Tewassoul.

Sghair Ould M'Bareck, Prime Minister from 2003-2005, withdrew earlier this month, giving his support to Ould Abdel Aziz.

The election is taking place after months of negotiations to end the country’s political crisis.

“What we have seen is that after the political crisis, which was indeed quite complex, Mauritanians were able to strike a positive note and resolve this most peacefully, through the Dakar agreement, which is quite a first in itself,” Mauritania's Foreign Minister Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou told RFI.

Senegal led an international commission to help broker the agreements.

Some 350 observers from the African Union, the Arab League, European countries and other groups and NGOs are throughout the country to ensure the elections go smoothly, said Mohamedou. He also added that Mauritanians living abroad are also voting for the first time.

It is likely that no candidate will win a majority in the first round, and that there will be a run-off, scheduled for 1 August.

About 1.2 million of the country’s three million people are eligible to vote. Polls close at 6pm local time (1900 GMT).