Ghazouani secures re-election victory in Mauritanian presidential poll

Ghazouani secures re-election victory in Mauritanian presidential poll

Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani has won the country’s June 29 presidential election, provisional results from over 99.15 percent of polling stations released by the West African nation’s electoral commission showed on Sunday.

Ghazouani was re-elected with over 56 percent of the vote, the results on Mauritania’s electoral commission website showed.

That would put him well ahead of rival and human rights campaigner Biram Dah Abeid, who Ceni predicted would win 22 percent of the vote.

Abeid said on Sunday that he would not recognise the results of “Ghazouani’s Ceni”.

“We will only recognise our own results, and therefore we will take to the streets” to refuse the electoral commission count, he said.

But he insisted their response would be “peaceful”, calling on the army and the security forces “not to follow the orders of the regime”.

Late Sunday afternoon, his opposition headquarters had been surrounded by the security forces, an AFP journalist noted.