Mauritanian elections: landslide victory for ruling party
Voters enter a polling station in Nouakchott on May 13, 2023. A week after the legislative, regional and municipal elections in Mauritania, the provisional results have finally fallen. With nearly 71.8% turnout, it is a landslide victory for the ruling El Insaf party. AFP - MED LEMINE RAJEL
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
The wait was long, very long, a week after the election of the regional and municipal legislative elections in Mauritania, the provisional results of the regional and municipal elections and the first round of the legislative elections have finally fallen. With nearly 71.8% turnout, it is a landslide victory for the ruling El Insaf party. An election much criticized by the opposition parties, but also by the majority who have been advancing for several days dysfunctions on D-Day. Report of the first round of legislative elections.
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With our correspondent in Nouakchott, Léa Breuil
It had been nearly a week since the partial results had been trickling down on the Election Commission's website and had already been criticised by opposition parties.
But this Sunday noon, the spokesman of the CENI finally put an end to the suspense: according to the provisional results, the ruling party El Insaf easily comes out ahead in the first round in the majority of the country's constituencies as well as in the communes. At least 80 MPs out of the 176 in Parliament.
On the opposition side, it is disappointment. The parties share 24 seats in total and denounce many dysfunctions observed during the election.
Like the Islamist party of Tawassoul which retains its first place as an opposition force with 9 seats in Parliament against 14 in 2018.
Or the Sawab-Rag coalition joined by former anti-slavery MP Biram Dah Abeid, who came second in the last presidential election which won only 5 seats.
Or the new coalition FRUD which creates the surprise and obtains 6 seats.
Traditional political parties such as the RFD or the UFP may well not be represented in Parliament this year.
The provisional results will still have to be validated by the high judicial authorities, the CENI says it is ready to examine all appeals and correct any error that would taint the electoral process. 36 seats will still be up for grabs in the second round of legislative elections, scheduled for May 28.
It should be noted that according to the website of the Electoral Commission, the El Insaf party won more than half of the town halls (165/238, half is at 119) and all the regional councils (13/13 councils).
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- Mauritania