The campaign officially begins two weeks before the vote. The outgoing president faces six other candidates.
Mauritania is in presidential time. The campaign for the June 29 presidential election began this Friday the 14th. Seven candidates are in the running, including the outgoing head of state Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani.
Facing him: six other opposition candidates, including Biram Dah Abeid, human rights activist, who came second in the 2019 presidential election, and Hamadi Ould Sid’ El Moctar, who will wear the colors of Tawassoul, the party so-called moderate Islamist and the main political force of the opposition.
Debate around the presidential record
Ould Ghazouani defends his record and, in the letter announcing his candidacy, he promised more to young people in the event of re-election. His supporters also cite his achievements, highlighting in particular the establishment of the delegation responsible for the fight against exclusion and the creation of a fund for health coverage for informal workers. “There were practically 1,800,000 insured during his time and health insurance was made free for 100,000 families,” insists Maham Youssouf, executive of Insav, the ruling party.
But the opposition obviously does not agree with this and insists on other points. “Young Mauritanians are fleeing Mauritania,” says MP Balla Touré, spokesperson for candidate El Id Mbarreck. For him, the latest waves of young Mauritanians who left for the United States illustrate the failure of the outgoing president. “This concerns tens of thousands of Mauritanians between 2022 and 2024. This clearly proves that Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani has failed.”
Economy and cooperation
Among the other themes of this campaign: living together and the economy. The candidate Biram Dah Abeid MP, anti-slavery activist, promises national reconciliation through solutions to the problem of slavery and the humanitarian liabilities of the 90s. He also wishes to renegotiate agreements with foreign powers.
“There are economic reforms that affect the Mauritanian people’s appropriation of their own resources,” explains Mohamed Hendeya, who is part of the coalition supporting the candidate. “We must revise the cooperation agreements with foreign powers signed to the detriment of the Mauritanian people in the areas of fishing, mining, gas and even agriculture.”
The recent electoral past is favorable to candidate Ghazouani. Its dialects emerged as clear winners in the legislative, municipal and regional elections of 2023. The opposition, which had denounced the lack of transparency in these elections, intends to turn the tide.
Deutsche Welle
