Mauritanians hit the polls

Anne Look - GlobalPost July 27, 2009 15:19 ET

Coup leader claims win in Mauritania poll

Opposition cries fraud, but moderate Muslim leader Aziz has popular support and is in charge.

By Anne Look - GlobalPost
Published: July 28, 2009 05:48 ET

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania — As night fell, young women seemed to soar through the streets of this capital city, riding side-saddle on open car windows, their melhefa veils whipping behind them.

“Aziz, Aziz,” they chanted to a symphony of jubilant car horns.

Eleven months after toppling Mauritania’s first freely elected leader in a military coup, General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz claimed victory in the presidential elections on July 19. A week later, the election results are still contested. On July 24 the head of Mauritania's electoral commission resigned, saying he was suspicious of the results.

Despite opposition denunciations of the poll as a fraud-ridden “electoral coup,” Aziz is firmly in charge, imposing a moderate Muslim government on this sprawling desert country that straddles sub-Saharan Africa and the Arab countries of North Africa.

The retired general built up a strong support base, particularly among Mauritania's poor. He vowed to crack down on Islamic extremists, including Al Qaeda, which is blamed for attacks on foreign tourists.

Aziz faced nine candidates who divided the opposition vote. He won with 52 percent of the votes, according to the Ministry of Interior, with the nearest opposition candidate a distant second at 16.3 percent. The results are to be confirmed by the constitutional court.

Opposition candidates lost little time condemning the vote as an “electoral charade," held merely to legitimize last August’s coup. The election could be reduced to two sides: pro-coup versus anti-coup or, as the opposition put it: democracy versus dictatorship.

The opposition urged the international community to investigate irregularities they say include opposition ballots being counted for Aziz, multiple votes cast by military members and payments given in exchange for casting pre-marked ballots.

Mauritania has experienced 10 coups or attempted coups since independence from France in 1960. Slavery was only outlawed in 1980, and the country remains fractured by tribal loyalties and racism.

The population of Nouakchott, a capital city that resembles a strip mall more than a thriving metropolis, has boomed since the 1970s, as droughts forced urbanization on the country’s previously nomadic tribes.

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