President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani wins re-election in Mauritania

NEWS WIRES

30 June 2024 at 0:10 pm·2-min read

President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani has won the presidential elections in the West African nation, with over 56 percent of the vote. His main rival, anti-slavery activist Biram Dah Abeid, came in second place with 22 percent.

Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani has won the country's presidential election, according to provisional results from over 99.27% of polling stations released by the West African nation's electoral commission Sunday.

Ghazouani was re-elected in the Saturday election with over 56% of the vote, results from 4,468 polling stations out of 4,503 showed on Mauritania's independent electoral commission's website.

The 67-year-old former army chief of staff and defence minister, who was first elected in 2019, has pledged to boost investment to spur a commodities boom in the West African country of 5 million people, as it prepares to start producing natural gas by the end of the year.

Analysts had expected Ghazouani, who faced six challengers in the election, to win the race in the first round, thanks to Mauritania's ruling party dominance.

The provisional results showed that his main rival, anti-slavery activist Biram Dah Abeid, was second with 22.14%, followed by Hamadi Sidi El Mokhtar of the Islamist Tewassoul party with 12.8%.

Earlier on Sunday, Abeid rejected the provisional results, alleging irregularities.

"We'll not accept these results from the so-called independent electoral commission. We'll use our own electoral commission to proclaim the results," Abeid told a news conference in Nouakchott, the capital.

Preliminary figures showed the turnout at Saturday's vote was just under 55.33%, the commission's data showed.

(Reuters)

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