Mass protest in Mauritania rejects holding presidential elections

Thousands of protestors in Mauritania from a coalition of 17 opposition parties took to the streets in Nouakchott on Wednesday to protest against the country’s upcoming presidential election scheduled for 21 June, Al-Arabi Al-Jadid news website reported.

Wandering through the streets of the capital, the protestors chanted against the regime of the incumbent President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.

The opposition says that the government has failed to provide guarantees of electoral transparency and is critical of its unilateral decision to push ahead with elections despite the collapse of a dialogue process between it and the government, according to IHS Jane’s Intelligence Weekly.

One of the leaders of the opposition, Sheikh Sayed Ahmed Ould Bab, renewed his demand for carrying out free and fair elections. “The Mauritanian people assert today, throughout their massive protests, their rejection to the unilateral agenda,” Al-Arabi Al-Jadid quoted him as saying.

Ould Bab also accused the current regime of “reinforcing dictatorship and pushing the nation towards poverty”. He reiterated the call to boycott the upcoming election.

Mauritania’s mass media highlighted the role of the popular protests in advance of the electoral campaign. However, it is not clear to what degree the opposition boycott will impact the presidential election since the tribal and traditional norms are very close to the regime.

Writing for Al-Arabi Al-Jadid, reporter Mohamed Vall Al- Sheikh suggested that elections in the capital and in the other big cities might be impacted, but not in the villages and the countryside.

Five candidates are running for president in Mauritania; however, observers say that President Aziz is the most prominent and is likely to win the election because of the boycott and the absence of any serious competitors.