Mauritania votes in what could be first democratic power transfer

MAURITANIANS voted Saturday for a new president, in what could be the first democratic transfer of power in the West

African country but with the opposition complaining of “worrying signs” of election irregularities.

The ballot is the first in the nation’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 that the vote could perpetuate a government dominated by military figures.

Some 1.5 million people were entitled to vote in the vast predominantly Muslim Saharan state. Polling stations closed at 1900 GMT, with preliminary results expected at the start of next week.

In mid-afternoon four opposition candidates, including the main opposition challenger Sidi Mohamed Ould Boubacar, complained of balloting irregularities and the expulsion of their representatives from some polling stations.

But the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) said that no significant incidents had come to light.

Mauritania’s outgoing President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz 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.

“The country must choose the president it needs to take it on the right path, that of security and stability,” said Abdel Aziz, who voted in Nouakchott early Saturday.

He has previously warned that the opposition would reverse progress in the nation and is supporting the presidential bid of a loyal former aide, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani.

Ghazouani, a 62-year-old former general, is considered the frontrunner.

Voting in the capital’s stadium with a large police escort, Ghazouani praised the vote as a success and applauded “the Mauritanian people for their political maturity”.

“Our candidate will win in the first round of votbut ing,” ruling party spokesman Sidi Ould Domane told reporters just before voting ended.

Men and women lined up separately as they waited to cast their vote. They selected one name from the list of six candidates, each assigned a number and a symbol, including an ear of wheat, a lion, a key and a teapot.

Some polling stations in Nouakchott, visited by AFP as they were closing, posted turnout figures of between 68 percent and 80 percent, exceptional rates for the capital.

Voter Abdellahi Ould Vettah called for “radical change, which is to say: equality, education and social justice,” he said.

- ‘Worrying signs’ Abdel Aziz is credited with reforming the army, clamping down on jihadists and pushing to develop remote regions.

But 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 deeplyconservative state although it was officially abolished in 1981.

Authorities rejected an opposition request for foreign observers at the election.

This has raised alarm among the opposition, who have warned of potential vote fraud and accused the CENI election commission of bias.

“We remain vigilant, ready to denounce any attempt at fraud,” said main challenger Boubacar, who said there had been “worrying signs”.

“The people and the youth will not be robbed of their vote,” said Boubacar, 62, a former prime minister who has the backing of a broad opposition coalition. - Security warning Frontrunner Ghazouani, a one-time head of the domestic security service, served as Abdel Aziz’s chief of

staff from 2008 to last year.

Ghazouani campaigned on the themes of continuity, solidarity and security. Boubacar, who was prime minister between 1992 and 1996 and at the helm of a transitional government between 2005-7, hopes to win enough support to secure a runoff vote on July 6.

He is backed by a coalition led by the main opposition movement, Islamist party Tewassoul.

Nearly 30 percent said they would vote for Ghazaouani and 23 percent for Boubacar in a poll of 1,300 people conducted in the capital Nouakchott by the Mauritanian Centre for Strategic Studies and Research (CMERS) last week.

The four other candidates are outliers in the race, according to the poll. Candidates have taken their campaigns around the country -- twice the size of France -- with a population of just 4.5 million.

They have also courted the heads of tribes and clans in remote regions.

All 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 people need a president who will change their situation,” said voter Khadaja Boubacar. Agence France-Presse