NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania: Mauritania’s Islamic opposition party announced Thursday that its leader will run in the June 29 presidential election, the first time the party has nominated a presidential candidate since 2009.
Hamadi Ould Sid’ El Moctar will represent the leading opposition party in the Mauritanian parliament, National Rally for Reform and Development, also known as Tewassoul which has 11 out of 176 MPs.
The party which was legalised in 2007 boycotted the 2014 presidential vote and supported a candidate from outside its ranks in 2019.
Incumbent President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani is the favourite to win the June vote after he announced to stand for a second term on April 24.
Ghazouani, 67, has been at the helm of the vast West African country since 2019. He has provided stability in the Sahel region, which faces increasing jihadism.
In a statement, Tewassoul said that it had decided to field a candidate after a “long debate” which was unanimous that there was a “need to change the deplorable situation into which the regime has plunged the country”.
Nearly a dozen other candidates have already announced their candidacies, including human rights activist Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid, who finished second in the 2019 vote.
With a population of about 4.5 million, Mauritania suffered a series of coups from 1978 to 2008, before switching power for the first time between two elected presidents in 2019.
Although jihadism has spread to other parts of the Sahel region, particularly in neighboring Mali, Mauritania has not been attacked since 2011.
According to the presidential order issued this month, election campaigns will begin at midnight on June 14 and end at midnight on June 27.
