Mauritania’s presidential election has seen Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, the incumbent president, leading in provisional results announced on Sunday.
Ghazouani, a 67-year-old former army chief of staff and defence minister, has secured 55.05% of the vote based on counts from over 71% of polling stations by 1040 GMT, according to the electoral commission’s website.
His closest competitor, anti-slavery activist Biram Dah Abeid, holds second place with 22.87% of the vote, Hamadi Sidi El Mokhtar of the Islamist Tewassoul party follows with 12.99%, while Parliamentarian El-Aid Ould Mohamedan ranked fourth with 3%.
Mauritanians cast their votes on Saturday to choose among seven presidential candidates.
The country has 1.9 million registered voters out of a population of around 4.5 million. If no candidate secures a majority, the top two contenders will proceed to a run-off election scheduled for July 13.