NOUAKCHOTT: Former Defense Minister Mohamed Ould Ghazouani won the Mauritania’s presidential election. Ould Ghazouani, 63, an ally of incumbent President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, obtained 52.01% of the votes cast in Saturday’s polls, as per the report of country’s electoral commission.
Six candidates were in competition in the polls, including human rights activist Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid, who trailed second with only 18.5% of the votes. Born in the central town of Boumdeid, Ghazouani belongs to a Sufi family.
In the late 1970s, he volunteered in the military and held several positions, including the commander of the Armored Corps and head of the Homeland Security Department. In August 2005, Ould Ghazouani participated in a military coup that toppled President Maaouya Ould Taya and became a member of the military council that oversaw a transitional period.
In August 2008, he participated with current President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz in a second military coup that overthrew Mauritania’s first democratically elected civilian president, Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallah. Following the coup, Ould Abdel Aziz resigned from the military establishment and ran for president in 2009 and was re-elected in 2014.
In October 2018, he became defense minister before leaving the government four months later to devote himself to his presidential campaign.
In January, Ould Abdel Aziz announced he would not stand for reelection, dismissing calls from his supporters for constitutional amendments that could have allowed him to run for a third term in office. Ould Ghazouani was widely expected to sweep Mauritania’s presidential race due to Ould Abdel Aziz’s explicit support to him.
With Ould Ghazouani’s victory, Ould Abdel Aziz — who spent two five-year terms — is likely to play a leading role in the Mauritanian leadership, as he announced a few days ago that he will pursue development projects “from inside and outside the presidency.” Mauritania’s new president has taken the oath of office, completing the West African nation’s first peaceful transfer of power.
A number of presidents in the West African subregion were in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott for the event that officially brought President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani into office. Some of the attendee presidents were: Senegal’s Macky Sall, Ivory Coast’s Alassane Ouattara, Niger’s Mahammadou Issoufou, Burkina Faso’s Roch Marc Kabore, Mali’s Ibrahim Boubakar Keita and Guinea-Bissau’s José Mario Vaz. (Agencies)
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