The process of collecting the results of Saturday's presidential election in Mauritania, in which outgoing President Mohamed Ould Sheikh Al-Ghazouani leads by a wide margin, was underway Sunday, while his main opponent announced he would not recognize the results.
With 99% of the votes counted, Al-Ghazwani, a 67-year-old former military man, had more than 56% of the vote, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission's electronic platform, which publishes results based on polling stations as they are counted.
His main opponent, activist Biram Dah Abidi (59), who is currently in second place with about 22 percent of the vote, announced during a press conference on Sunday that he would not recognize the results issued by the "Independent National Electoral Commission affiliated with Ghazouani," which he accuses of being an instrument of power. .
He said, "We will only recognize our own results, and on this basis we will take to the streets to reject the disruption of the elections".
But he insisted the response would be "peaceful" and called on the army and security forces "not to obey the regime's orders."
An Agence France-Presse correspondent said security forces surrounded the opposition headquarters Sunday afternoon.
Hammadi Ould Sidi Al-Mokhtar, the candidate of the Islamist Tawasul Party, the main opposition force in the National Assembly, came in third with 13% of the votes counted so far.
He had confirmed on Saturday that he would remain "vigilant against any violation" and called on citizens to stay away from anything that could spread chaos and disturb civil peace.
The committee has until Monday evening to announce the first final results.
Al-Ghazwani announced Saturday night that "only the Independent National Electoral Commission has the right to announce [the results], and we have to wait for it".
According to the committee, the turnout was around 55%.
The outgoing president has presented himself as a guarantor of stability in the country, which has not seen an attack since 2011, while neighboring Mali and the Sahel region in general have seen many.
Al-Ghazouani has made fighting poverty and supporting youth his priorities for his second term.
Young people under the age of 35, who make up more than 70 percent of the population, are increasingly leaving their country for Europe or the United States in search of a better life.
After a first term overshadowed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the aftermath of the war in Ukraine, Ghazouani hopes to implement further reforms in his second term thanks to a favorable economic outlook.
Al-Ghazouani beat out six other candidates for the presidency, promising to bring the first real democratic change to the vast desert nation of about 4.9 million people, which saw several coups between 1978 and 2008 before registering in 2019 or later. A transitional period between two elected presidents since independence from France.
According to observers, there were no major incidents in the country during the elections.
The capital, Nouakchott, was calm on Sunday, awaiting the announcement of the results. Most shops closed their doors.
Mohammed Awa, who owns a shop, told AFP: "According to the preliminary results, (President) Ghazouani and (opposition leader) Biram stand out. We ask the team to take into account the interests of the population, especially those related to security.
Student Ahmedou Sayed said, "I think the elections went well. But half of the population doubts the results because of the way the campaign was conducted. Some say there was a lack of transparency. Personally, I did not see anything that could cause concern."
The Mauritanian government formed a national observatory to monitor the elections, which the opposition considered a tool to manipulate the vote.
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