Mauritania elections .. Ghaznawi announced victory and the opposition rejects the results

Mauritanian presidential candidate Mohamed Ould El Ghazouani announced his victory from the first round of voting, while the counting process is still underway, but the opposition questioned the results and announced their rejection.

Initial results of the presidential elections in Mauritania showed that the candidate of the ruling majority Mohamed Ould El Ghazzouani received more than 50% of the votes after counting more than 93% of them.

In the second place, the candidate was Hamidou Baba by more than 8%, Mohammed Ould Mouloud with less than 3%, and finally Mohammed Al-Murtaji Wafi is less than 1%.

"We have won this election and I thank the Mauritanian people for this confidence," Ould El-Ghazouani said in a brief statement to his supporters at the end of an election night at the Nouakchott conference center and his outgoing president Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.

Hours after his victory, Mauritanian government spokesman Sidi Mohamed Ould Mohamed congratulated a ruling party candidate, Mohamed Ould El Ghazouani, on his election as president in Saturday's election.

"Congratulations and congratulations to President-elect Mohamed Ould Cheikh El-Ghazouani for the confidence that the people have given him and wish him success in his duties," Sidi Mohamed Ould Mohamed wrote in a gospel.

Rejection of results
On the other hand, the four opposition candidates participating in the Mauritanian presidential elections rejected the results of the vote, which they called an electoral coup in which the state used its means in favor of its candidate.

The four candidates announced at a news conference on Sunday that many violations and irregularities in the electoral process is currently counting results, and denounced the pursuit of military rule and the risk of fraud.

The candidate, Bayram Ould Aldah Ould Obeid, denounced the announcement of Ould El Ghazzouani as "the counting of votes is still underway."

The Electoral Commission announced in a statement on Sunday morning the continued counting of ballot papers before being transferred to the Constitutional Council.

The committee called for "more responsibility, discipline and commitment in the face of moral competition and law enforcement," calling on "candidates to be positive and away from anything that would provoke what is not required and what is negative and divisive," and expressed the hope that the positive atmosphere that prevailed in the campaign Election day and voting day.

Mauritanian voters took a heavy turn at polling stations on Saturday to elect a president who would have to face many political, economic and security challenges and make progress in respect for human rights.

The ballot marks the first transfer of power between two elected presidents in the country, which witnessed many coups between 1978 and 2008, the date of the coup of former general Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz. The latter could not run for a third term under the Constitution.