As Mauritanians go to the polls on Saturday June 29th to elect a new president, who are the main contenders looking to upset incumbent president Mohamed Ould Ghazouani?
At least 1.9 million people in Mauritania are registered to vote in the polls which pits President Ghazouani of the ruling El Insaf or Equity Party agianst six other candidates.
67-year-old Ghazaouni is seeking re-election five years after the first democratic transfer of power in Mauritania since independence from France in 1960.
A former chief of the armed forces is promising to strengthen security in Mauritania amid growing insecurity in the Sahel region where neighbouring Mali is in the grip of brutal insurgency for more than ten years.
Challengers
As one of the incumbent’s main challengers Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid is making a second shot at the presidency after failing to beat Ghazaouni in 2019. Biram, a 59-year-old black Mauritanian leads the Refoundation for a Global Action alliance (RAG) to the polls with a promise to improve the conditions of marginalised sections of the Mauritanian society. A staunch campaigner against racial discrimnation, Biram had been imprisoned severally thanks to his activism under his Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA). Although slavery was abolished in Mauritania in 1981, tendencies of the practice still exists in Mauritania to this day.
Sharing this social cause is another challenger Outouma Antoine Souleimane Soumare who is running as an independent candidate.
As a neurosurgeon the experience from his work had exposed him to some of the most serious challengers faced by ordinary Mauritanians with little or no access to proper healthcare. He is campaigning on a platform of social justice and a better national constitution that would be more socially inclusive of marginalised groups.
Hamadi Sidi Mokhtar Mohamed Abdi represents the main opposition Tawassoul Party, which wants a return to Islamic law in a country where Islam is the main religion.
Mamadou Bocar Ba is standing under the Alliance for Justice and Democracy which is seen as a movement for mainly black Mauritanians.
The other fringe candidates are El Id Mohameden M’Bareck of the Republican Front for Unity and Democracy (FRUD) or Hope Mauritania coalition and independent contender Mohamed Lemine El Mourteji El Wafi who is taking a second shot at the presidency.
The election campaign by the candidates had centred around growing poverty, unemployment and fear of insecurity thanks to the conflict in Mali.
WN/as/APA