Nouakchott, June 23, 2019 – Government candidate and frontrunner Mohamed Ould Ghazouani has won an absolute majority in the first round of Mauritania’s presidential election, with nearly all votes counted, the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) said on Sunday. With counting completed in 3,729 of a total of 3,861 polling stations, the 62-year-old former head of the domestic security service won 51.5 percent of the vote, according to data published on CENI’s website.
Ghazouani had already declared himself the winner in the early hours of Sunday in the presence of current president Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, his supporters and journalists.
The ballot is the first in Mauritania’s coup-strewn history that looks set to see an elected president complete his mandate and transfer power to an elected successor, although the opposition has raised concerns the vote could perpetuate a government dominated by military figures. Some 1.5 million people were eligible to vote Saturday in the vast, predominantly Muslim state, which is approximately twice the size of former colonial power France and has a population of just 4.5 million. Turnout was 62.68 percent, CENI said.
Out of the other five candidates, Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid came second with 18.58 percent of the votes and Mohamed Ould Boubacar followed in third place with 17.82 percent, the CENI data showed. Preliminary results had originally been expected on Monday.
– Ballot irregularities? –
CENI said in a statement that it would continue compiling the results from across the West African desert country before handing them over to the Constitutional Council. In the meantime, it said it “advises the candidates to show prudence and restraint,” and hoped the calm climate seen during the campaign and on voting day would prevail. Both Abeid and Boubacar had complained of balloting irregularities and the expulsion of representatives from some polling stations. However CENI said no major problems had been reported.
Abeid hit out at Ghazouani’s claim of victory “while the vote counting is still going on”. “Ghazouani’s announcement constitutes a falsehood,” he said. Ghazouani — who campaigned on the themes of continuity, solidarity and security for the Saharan nation — served as Abdel Aziz’s chief of staff from 2008 to last year.
The outgoing president is a general who originally came to power in a 2008 coup, won elections a year later and was again elected in 2014 in polls boycotted by the opposition. Abdel Aziz, who has repeatedly warned that the country could fall back into instability if his chosen candidate is not elected, is credited with reforming the army, clamping down on jihadists and pushing to develop remote regions.
Nevertheless, rights groups have accused the government of restrictions on freedom of expression and assembly, while calling on the nation to do more to counter violence against women and slavery, which persists in the deeply-conservative state although it was officially abolished in 1981.
Authorities rejected an opposition request for foreign observers at the election. All of the candidates promised improvements in the standard of living, though economic growth at 3.6 percent in 2018 is insufficient to meet the needs of a fast-growing population, according to the World Bank. The World Bank has welcomed the “macro-economic stabilisation” of the country, where annual growth is expected to average 6.2 percent between 2019 and 2021. But it has called for barriers to be removed in the private sector, pointing in particular to corruption, as well as difficult access to credit.
By AFP
Profile
Mohamed Ould Cheikh Mohamed Ahmed Ould Ghazouani (: محمد ولد الشيخ محمد أحمد ولد الغزواني; born 4 December 1956), also known as Ghazouani and Ould Ghazouani, is a Mauritanian politician and retired general who has been the 9th since 2019, and the of the since February 2024.
Ghazouani is a former general-director of National Security and former chief of staff of the (2008–2018). He was defense minister of Mauritania from October 2018 to March 2019. At that time a close ally of his predecessor , he was elected president of Mauritania on 22 June 2019 following the . His victory in the 2019 presidential election was presented as having been the country's first since independence.
Ghazouani has overseen a period of relative stability in Mauritania. He has worked to improve social security and combat corruption, including the arrest of his predecessor. Ghazouani also played a crucial role in eliminating , modernizing the military, and engaging with communities and groups.
Personal life
[]Ghazouani was born in , on 4 December 1956. He belongs to a well-known - family in Mauritania. Ghazouani is the son of a spiritual leader of the Maraboutic tribe Ideiboussat. Ghazouani has .
He is married to a doctor, Mariam Bint Mohamed Fadel Ould Dah. They have five children.
Career
[]Military career
[]He joined the in the late 1970s. He continued his training as an officer in the in . He received a degree, a master's degree in Administration and Military Sciences, and completed several war training certificates and courses.
Ghazouani was to President from 1987 to 1991.
Ghazouani was an ally of former President , and was his partner in the of President in 2008, and was a member of the military junta that former President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya in 2005.
Political career
[]In October 2018, President named Ghazouani as Defense Minister of Mauritania.
On 1 March 2019, Ghazouani announced his candidacy for the presidency, seeking to replace Abdel Aziz. On 15 March he resigned as defense minister to pursue his presidential ambition.
Presidency (2019–)
[]On 22 June 2019, Ghazouani became Mauritania's elected president after a against five other candidates. On 1 August 2019, he was officially sworn in as the 9th President of Mauritania.
Shortly after being sworn in, his relations with former president soured, due to revelations of financial misconduct committed by the former president. A parliamentary probe was opened into Aziz’s activities in August 2020, and he was officially sentenced in December 2023. Aziz claimed that Ghazouani had given the former president two large bags filled with seven million euros after being elected.
As defense minister and president, Ghazouani significantly contributed to defeating , which had carried out deadly attacks in Mauritania from 2005 to 2011. His efforts, including community outreach, mediation with Islamist groups, and military upgrades, have been considered effective against armed militant Jihadists.
Ghazouani paid the costs of treatment for the radio presenter .
- Media related to at Wikimedia Commons
- Quotations related to Mohamed Ould Ghazouani at Wikiquote
- Mauritania President Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani Addresses
- Mohamed Ould Cheikh AI- Ghazouani, President of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, Cur rent president of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African
