Mauritania on the cusp of unprecedented political crisis

Ahmed Adel

After the ruling party in Mauritania, led by President Mohamed Ould Cheikh Ghazouani, achieved a major victory in the country’s parliamentary elections, doubts arose about the validity of those elections and the extent to which they were exposed to major fraud. The opposition described the elections as a “major fraud” by the authorities towards innocent citizens, while more than ten majority parties denounced the shortcomings and poor performance of the National Independent Election Commission and called for a re-vote across the country. Opposition groups also decided to take to the streets in protest on Thursday, May 25.

The Mauritanian elections aimed to select 176 deputies, 13 regional councils, and 238 municipal councils one year before the presidential elections.

The majority party, El Insaf (Equity), which is led by President Ghazouani, who has been in power since August 2019, won 80 seats in the National Assembly, according to the results read out by the head of the Independent National Elections Commission (CENI), while 36 seats were won by members allied with the president, and the opposition won 24 seats, nine of which are for its main party, the Islamist Tewassoul movement.

Supreme Court endorsement

Likewise, the ruling party won 13 regional councils and advanced in 165 out of 238 municipalities. The presidential majority and opposition parties distributed the rest of the municipal seats. The participation rate reached 71.8 percent in these elections, in which 25 political parties participated.

This sparked opposition anger, in conjunction with warnings of an acute political crisis, if the current electoral crisis is not addressed within a consultative framework, in addition to other demands such as holding a meeting of the authorities responsible for the elections to resolve the issue before the start of the second round, while others appealed to the head of state to intervene.

These are the first elections to be held during the era of President Ghazouani after he succeeded Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz in 2019.

Political crisis

Samar Abdallah, a researcher of African affairs, said that Mauritania is on the verge of an unprecedented political crisis, stressing that accusations of fraud in the parliamentary and local elections must be taken seriously before the situation escalates further. She added that the move to hold a mass conference by the Mauritanian opposition to present the crisis to citizens may ignite the streets of Nouakchott overnight, and this is perhaps what made the opposition talk about a mass conference without specifying a date.

Abdallah added in a special statement to the Reference that the solution lies in the beginning with holding a tripartite meeting that includes CENI, the government and the parties in order for the country to avoid dire consequences, especially since the Union of the Forces of Progress (UFP), the Rally of Democratic Forces (RFD), the People’s Progressive Alliance (APP), the Sawab Party, the National Rally for Reform and Development (Tewassoul), and the Republican Front have a weight that may threaten the ruling party at any moment.

A re-election should not just take place in limited areas, but in the entire country, so as to refute allegations of fraud, Abdallah noted, adding that evidence of election fraud must be taken seriously, investigated, and those involved held accountable, because the other scenario would be terrifying for everyone.