El Wiam (french: Parti de l'Entente Démocratique et Sociale, lit. ''Party of the Democratic and Social Agreement'', PEDS) was a

centrist Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to Left-w ...

political party in Mauritania led by Boïdiel Ould Houmeit. It was made up mainly of officials from the government of President

Maaouya Ould Taya Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya ( ar, معاوية ولد سيد أحمد الطايع, Ma‘āwiyah wuld Sīdi Aḥmad aṭ-Ṭāya‘ / Mu'awiya walad Sayyidi Ahmad Taya; born 28 November 1941) is a Mauritanian military officer who served as the ...

History

El Wiam was one of the many opposition groups which took part in the

2011 Mauritanian protests Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12 * one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *''E ...

, protesting against the authoritarian rule of

Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz ( ar, محمد ولد عبد العزيز ''Muḥammad Wald 'Abd al-'Azīz''; born 20 December 1956) is a former Mauritanian politician who was the 8th President of Mauritania, in office from 2009 to 2019. A career sold ...

. The party won ten seats in the 2013 parliamentary elections, emerging as the third largest party in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

. It nominated Boïdiel Ould Houmeit as its candidate for the 2014 presidential elections. Ould Houmeit finished third out of five candidates with 4.5% of the vote. The party merged into the governing Union for the Republic on 28 October 2018 after losing several seats on the September 2018 parliamentary elections.

References

Defunct political parties in Mauritania Political parties disestablished in 2018 2018 disestablishments in Mauritania {{Mauritania-party-stub