Mauritania votes as 1st peaceful transfer of power expected
Mauritanians on Saturday went to the polls as the outgoing
president’s preferred successor faced five opposition candidates in this West
African nation threatened by Islamic extremism. It is expected to be the
country’s first peaceful transfer of power.
One candidate of sub-Saharan African descent wants to
improve race relations in a country where activists estimate tens of thousands
of people still live in slavery despite the practice being banned by the
government for decades.
Amnesty International has called on the next president to
end rampant human rights abuses in this coastal Saharan nation of 4.5 million
people.
“Anyone who dares to stand up against slavery,
discrimination and other human rights violations and abuses is at risk of
arbitrary arrest, unlawful detention and even torture,” said Kine Fatim Diop, a
West Africa campaigner for the rights organization.
Mauritania has suffered five coups since independence from
France in 1960 and has been led by military rulers for much of that time.
President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz himself was head of the presidential guard
when he seized power in a 2008 coup. He said he did so to prevent a return to
repressive military rule.
He won a landslide election the following year in what
opponents called a fraudulent “electoral coup.” Most opposition parties then
boycotted the 2014 election in which Aziz won 82 percent of the vote according
to official results.
The president is barred by the constitution from seeking
another term. In respecting term limits instead of seeking to change the
constitution he contrasts with several leaders elsewhere in Africa in recent
years.
His successor of choice is former Defense Minister Mohamed
Ould El Ghazouani, a retired general who served as chief of staff of
Mauritania’s armed forces.
Ghazouani was chosen by the ruling majority as a
presidential candidate after his retirement. He has campaigned on his security
credentials and the outgoing president’s record on fighting Islamic extremists.
“Mauritania has to choose between Mohamed Ould El Ghazouani
— who wants to strive toward security, development and progress — or vote for a
return to insecurity, bad management and corruption where there is hate, racism
and destruction of national unity,” the outgoing president said at a press
conference marking the end of campaigning.
This moderate Islamic republic borders Mali, where jihadist
rule forced tens of thousands to flee the country’s north to Mauritania in
2012. While the security situation has deteriorated in Mali even after the
extremists were ousted from control, Mauritania has not seen the spillover in
violence experienced by Mali’s other neighbors Niger and Burkina Faso.
Mauritania is a member of the G5 Sahel regional
counterterrorism force, which was established in 2017 but has been plagued by
funding problems.
The opposition candidates in this election include
anti-slavery activist Biram Dah Abeid, who was elected to Parliament in
September from his prison cell, where he was held on charges his supporters
called politically motivated. He was released late last year after serving four
months.
Mauritania was the last country to abolish slavery, doing so
in 1981, but did not criminalize it until 2007. Late last year the United
States ended trade benefits with Mauritania, saying the country is not making
sufficient progress toward combating forced labor, including slavery.
The Mauritanian government, however, denies that slavery is
widespread.
Candidate Kane Hamidou Baba of the “Living Together”
coalition is representing parties backed by Mauritanians of sub-Saharan African
descent.
Other candidates include Sidi Mohamed Ould Boubacar, a
two-time former prime minister who is supported by the opposition Islamist
party; Mohamed Ould Maouloud, candidate of the Opposition Coalition for Change
and Mohamed Lemine El Mourteji Wafi, who hopes to draw the support of younger
Mauritanians.
A runoff election will take place next month if no one
receives a majority of votes on Saturday.