Ghazouani Leads Mauritanian Presidential Race with 78% of Votes Counted

With 78 per cent of votes counted, Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani has secured over 55 per cent of the total votes cast, placing him in a strong position against six other presidential candidates.

His closest challenger, Biram Dah Abeid, has garnered less than 23 per cent of the votes.

As counting continued on Sunday evening, incumbent President Ghazouani maintained an almost unassailable lead in the nationwide election held on Saturday, June 29.

The country’s Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) announced the preliminary results late Sunday afternoon, after counting more than 78 per cent of the ballots.

Following Ghazouani and second-placed Abeid were Hamadi Ould Sid’ El Moctar with 12.82 per cent, and El-Aid Ould Mohamedan in fourth place with 3.52 per cent.

Mamadou Boukari secured fifth place with 2.38 per cent, Outouma Soumare came sixth with 2.24 per cent, and Mohamed Lamine Mourteji El Wafi followed with 0.97 per cent.

The Mauritanian electoral body CENI reported counting votes in 3,523 out of 4,503 polling stations nationwide, accounting for 78.15 per cent of the total.

Mauritania, a North African country with a population of 4.5 million, registered 1.9 million voters to choose among the seven candidates in the June 29 presidential election.

Incumbent Mohamed Ould Ghazouani had been widely expected to win even before the election.

Critics accuse him of corruption, but a significant number of Mauritanians apparently view him as a beacon of stability and progress, supporting his return to power.

Ghazouani, seeking reelection on the promise of further economic growth, is a former army chief and currently the chairman of the African Union (AU).

He was first elected president of Mauritania in 2019 in the country’s first democratic transition.

The Islamic Republic of Mauritania has a Parliament composed of a single chamber, the National Assembly.

While there is a prime minister in the power equation, the president, who is directly elected by absolute majority popular vote, appoints the prime minister.