Mauritania’s Ghazouani ‘wins majority’ in presidential vote

Government candidate Mohamed Ould Ghazouani wins 51.9 percent with nearly all votes counted, provisional results show.

Mauritania‘s government has declared victory in the country’s competitive presidential election but opposition candidates said they could contest the result. 

With counting completed in nearly all polling stations on Sunday, the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) said the ruling party’s Mohamed Ould Ghazouani won 51.9 percent of the vote. 

“Congratulations to president-elect Mohamed Ould Ghazouani for the trust the people have shown him. We wish him all success in his work,” Communications Minister Sidi Mohamed Ould Maham said in a statement.

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 election was the first in Mauritania’s coup-strewn history to choose a successor to a democratically elected president.

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