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
Turnout62.63% (Increase6.17pp)
 
Candidate Mohamed Ould Ghazouani Biram Dah Abeid
Party UPR Independent
Alliance Presidential majority RAG-Sawab
Popular vote 483,007 172,649
Percentage 52.00% 18.59%
 
Sidi Mohamed Ould Boubakar.jpg
Candidate Sidi Mohamed Ould Boubacar Kane Hamidou Baba
Party Independent Independent
Alliance CVE
Popular vote 165,995 80,777
Percentage 17.87% 8.70%
Map of the results of the Mauritanian presidential election by wilaya and moughataa.
President before election

Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz
UPR

 President-elect

Mohamed Ould Ghazouani
UPR

Politics of Mauritania

Arab League Member State of the Arab League

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Government
Parliament
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flag 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]

Electoral system

Under Article 26 of the constitution, the president is elected for a five-year term using the two round system. If no candidate receives an absolute majority of the vote in the first round, a second round is held two weeks later between the two candidates who received the most votes.[8]

Candidacy is restricted to citizens by birth aged between 40 and 75 (on the day of the first round) who have not had their civil and political rights removed. Article 23 also stipulates that the president has to be a Muslim. Article 28 establishes a term limit of two mandates, allowing the president to only be re-elected once.[8]

The election of a new president is required to take place between 30 and 45 days before the expiration of the term of the incumbent president.[8]

Candidates

Campaign

Candidate slogans
Candidate Original slogan English translation Ref.
In Arabic In French
Mohamed Ould Ghazouani "من أجل الوطن" "Pour la patrie" "For the homeland" [9]
Biram Dah Abeid "التغيير الآن" "Le changement, c'est maintenant" "The change is now" [10]

Opinion polls
Polling
firm		 Fieldwork
date		 Sample
size
Mohamed Ould Maouloud
Mohamed Lemine El Mourteji El Wafi
Blank
Undecided
Refused to answer
CMERS 15 Jun 2019 2,056 29.5% 23.0% 9.5% 3.7% 2.6% 2.1% 2.0% 14.9% 12.7%

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 MaouloudUnion of the Forces of Progress22,6562.44
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 declaration of victory, protests were held in Nouakchott, leading to around 100 arrests.[11] 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.[12]

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. "دستور الجمهورية الإسلامية الموريتانية" [Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania]. Parliament of Mauritania (in Arabic). 2022-06-15. Retrieved 2022-11-17.
  9. "Programme du candidat Mohamed Cheikh Mohamed Ahmed Cheikh El-Ghazouani" [Program of [the] candidate Mohamed Cheikh Mohamed Ahmed Cheikh El-Ghazouani] (PDF) (in French). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-11-26. Retrieved 2022-09-04.
  10. "Sous le slogan : « Le changement, c'est maintenant », le candidat Biram DAH ABEID, en orbite pour la présidentielle 2019 (reportage photos)" [Under the slogan: "Change is now", candidate Biram DAH ABEID, in orbit for the 2019 presidential election (photo report)]. Mauriweb.info (in French). Retrieved 2022-09-04.
  11. opposition candidates challenge presidential election result Reuters, 26 June 2019
  12. Mauritania: Widespread Arrests to Blunt Backlash Over Election Human Rights Watch, 23 July 2019
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