By Paulina ZidiPosted on 20-06-2019Modified on 20-06-2019 at 20:15

Last straight in Mauritania before the presidential election. Candidates make their last campaign meetings as a test to measure their popularity. But the eyes are also on the presidential palace as incumbent President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz announced that he would be holding a press conference just before the official end of the campaign.

From our special correspondent in Nouakchott,

It was through SMS sent to subscribers of the Mauritanian telephone networks that the candidates invited the voters to their last campaign meeting. " This is the last battle, the last show of force, " says a Mauritanian journalist. And the demonstration is almost simultaneous, because the main candidates, namely that of the ruling party General Ghazouani, Sidi Mohamed Ould Boubacar, supported by moderate Islamists Tawassoul, or the anti-slavery leader Biram Dah Abeid, take all three speech in front of their militants in Nouakchott, the capital.

A few kilometers apart therefore separate the places from the three meetings. And to compare the affluence of the gatherings of these three candidates, a media broadcast on social networks announces having released the drones. " Like that with aerial images, we can immediately realize the mobilization, " adds its director.

President Aziz closes the campaign

Then at midnight, Nouakchott time, it will be the time of the electoral silence. Candidates and their campaign teams will no longer have the right to speak in public. National media will be kept on reserve. But the one who will have the last word is the outgoing President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz. Indeed, to everyone's surprise, he convened a press conference tonight after all the meetings.

A disconcerting initiative for opposition candidates, who unanimously express their concern. " We did not expect it at all," said a close friend of Biram Dah Abeid. Aziz is capable of everything. " This is an untimely and provocative intervention ," Boubacar's spokesman added. The same tension in the Ghazouani clan, who is anxious to see that the outgoing president continues to capture the attention. " Whatever he says in the end, Aziz will be the last to have spoken, says a close to the candidate of the majority. It is a way for him to show, that he still holds the keys of the palace. "

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