The ruling party, El Insaf, won by a landslide in the official results of the legislative, regional, and municipal elections held in Mauritania on May 13. These elections were viewed as a test for President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani before elections the following year.
80 of the 176 parliamentary seats were won by the ruling El Insaf or Equity party in the first round of voting.
36 seats went to the president’s political parties in Mauritius, while 24 seats went to the opposition. The biggest opposition group in the outgoing legislature, the conservative Tewassoul movement, which supports a rigid interpretation of Islamic law, won nine seats.
El Insaf also triumphed in 165 of 238 municipal constituencies and all 13 regional councils.
The remaining seats in many electoral districts will be filled by members of parliament in the run-off election set for Saturday, May 27.
The most recent elections had been held after President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani assumed office in 2019.
Zainab Mint al-Taqi, a major opposition candidate, said the opposition agreed the elections were “marred by violations.”
She claimed that among the irregularities were the opening of several voting places being delayed and some centers refusing to let party representatives inside.
The opposition claimed that the voter registration list had been manipulated with and that some voters were registered in places where they did not reside, which did not reflect their political inclinations.
Additionally, according to observers, the sorting procedure took a long time because of the need to address opposition charges of irregularities.
The opposition is requesting that the outcomes be overturned in a number of locations, including the town of Boutilimit and the capital Nouakchott, and has established a high-level “crisis committee” to monitor developments.