2019 Mauritanian presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Mauritania on 22 June 2019, with a second round planned for 6 July if no candidate had received more than 50% of the vote.[1] The result was a first round victory for Mohamed Ould Ghazouani who won with 52 percent of the vote.[2][3] However, opposition rejected the results,[4] calling it "another army coup."[5] On 1 July 2019, Mauritania's constitutional council confirmed Ghazouani as president and rejected a challenge by opposition.[6]

2019 Mauritanian presidential election
22 June 2019
1,544,132 registered voters
50%+ votes needed to win
Turnout62.66% (6.2%)
 
Candidate Mohamed Ould Ghazouani Biram Dah Abeid
Party UPR Independent
Popular vote 483,007 172,649
Percentage 52.00% 18.59%
 
Candidate Sidi Mohamed Ould Boubacar Kane Hamidou Baba
Party Independent Independent
Popular vote 165,995 80,777
Percentage 17.87% 8.70%
President before election

Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz
UPR

 Elected President

Mohamed Ould Ghazouani
UPR

Mauritania
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Mauritania

Member State of the Arab League

Constitution
Government
Parliament
Administrative divisions
Elections
Foreign relations
 Mauritania portal

With incumbent President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz not running, the elections were reported to be the first peaceful transfer of power since the country's independence from France in 1960.[7]

Candidates

Results
CandidatePartyVotes%
Mohamed Ould GhazouaniUnion for the Republic483,00752.00
Biram Dah AbeidIndependent172,64918.59
Sidi Mohamed Ould BoubacarIndependent165,99517.87
Kane Hamidou BabaIndependent80,7778.70
Mohamed Ould MouloudRally of Democratic Forces22,6562.44
Mohamed Lemine al-Mourtaji al-WafiIndependent3,6880.40
Total928,772100.00
Valid votes928,77296.04
Invalid/blank votes38,3003.96
Total votes967,072100.00
Registered voters/turnout1,544,13262.63
Source: AMI

Aftermath

Following Ould Ghazouani's declarationof victory, protests began were held in Nouakchott, leading to around 100 arrests.[8] The government started to reduce mobile internet services on the day after the elections, with fixed-line internet services ceasing on 25 June; both were fully restored on 3 July.[9]

References
  1. Mauritania to hold presidential election on June 22 African News, 18 June 2019
  2. Mauritania: Former General Mohamed Ould Ghazouani wins presidential election Deutsche Welle, 24 June 2019
  3. Mauritania's Ghazouani declared presidential vote winner Aljazeera, 24 June 2019
  4. Mauritanian opposition rejects Ghazouani election victory Africa Times, 25 June 2019
  5. ‘Historic’ Mauritanian elections contested by opposition The Arab Weekly, 29 June 2019
  6. Mauritania Constitutional Council Confirms Mohamed Ould Ghazouani as President, VOA, 1 July 2019
  7. Mauritania prepares for historic election as discontent simmers Reuters, 20 June 2019
  8. opposition candidates challenge presidential election result Reuters, 26 June 2019
  9. Mauritania: Widespread Arrests to Blunt Backlash Over Election Human Rights Watch, 23 July 2019
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.