Mauritania Toward Democracy or Status Quo?

Five days before Mauritanians head to the ballot box in the first election since a coup overthrew the country’s first elected government, Alex Thurston questions whether the power of incumbent leader General Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz will ensure his victory or if Mauritania’s desperate need for international legitimacy (in the wake of last year’s coup and a history of rife corruption) will reinforce the need for clean elections.

None of the candidates are newcomers to Mauritanian politics, but the political landscape is turbulent; politicians swap allegiances often. A power-sharing deal reached in June paved the way for Saturday’s long-postponed election. Running from within the elite establishment is Abdel Aziz and Colonel Ely Vall, widely known for corruption, and who is supported by Qatar and Libya. Thurston asks if their contest could split the elite vote and send either of the leading oppositionists, Ahmed Ould Daddah or Messaoud Boulkheir, to power. The Telegraph perceives a potential but uncertain swing vote coming from the country’s slave population, who relate to Boulkheir’s slave ancestry. A run-off is scheduled for August 1, if the elections do not yield a 50% winner.