Presidential elections were held in

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

on 29 June 2024. Incumbent

Mohamed Ould Ghazouani Mohamed Ould Cheikh Mohamed Ahmed Ould Ghazouani (; born 4 December 1956), also known as Ghazouani and Ould Ghazouani, is a Mauritanian politician and retired army general who has been the 9th President of Mauritania since 2019, and the 22ndch ...

won re-election for his second and final term as

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

, increasing his vote share by four points.

Electoral system

Under Article 26 of the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

the

is elected for a five-year term using the

two-round system The two-round system (TRS or 2RS), sometimes called ballotage, top-two runoff, or two-round plurality, is a single-winner electoral system which aims to elect a member who has support of the majority of voters. The two-round system involves one ...

. If no candidate receives an absolute majority of the vote in the first round, a second round is held two weeks later between the two candidates who received the most votes. Candidacy is restricted to citizens by birth aged between 40 and 75 (on the day of the first round) who have not had their civil and political rights removed. Article 23 also stipulates that the President has to be a Muslim. Article 28 establishes a

term limit A term limit is a legal restriction on the number of terms a person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potential for monopoly, w ...

of two mandates, allowing the President to only be re-elected once. The election of a new president is required to take place between 30 and 45 days before the expiration of the term of the incumbent president. For this election, campaigning was held from 14 June to 27 June. Polling stations were open from 07:00 to 19:00 local time ( GMT).

Candidates

Presented

Disqualified

Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz (; born 20 December 1956) is a retired Mauritanian military officer and politician who served as the 8th President of Mauritania from 2009 to 2019. A career soldier and high-ranking officer, he was a leading figure in ...

, former

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

President of Mauritania This is a list of heads of state of Mauritania since the country gained independence from France in 1960 to the present day. A total of nine people have served as head of state of Mauritania (not counting one acting president). Additionally, o ...

from

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

until 2019. He is currently serving a sentence of five years in jail, with him being authorized by the judiciary to leave jail in order to present his candidacy file. His candidacy was later rejected by the Constitutional Council, which considered it incomplete, despite Ould Abdel Aziz delivering his documentation. His political movement claimed the Constitutional Council "suffered a coup".

Declared

* Ahmed Ould Samba Ould Abdallahi, politician from the People's Progressive Alliance until 2024. * Mohamed Ould Cheikh, journalist and political analyst. * Ahmed Ould Haroun Ould Cheikh Sidiya, political activist and leader of the 8 September Current. * Hamidine Moctar Kane, economist.

Withdrew

* Noureddine Ould Mohamedou, computer engineer and politician.

Endorsements

Campaign

Ghazouani campaigned in part on a security platform, while his opponents accused his government of corruption and clientelism, with Dah Abeid denouncing what he called “a catastrophic management of the state”. Other issues during the election included unemployment, poverty and access to utilities such as water and electricity. Observers from the

African Union The African Union (AU) is a continental union of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the African Union. The b ...

and the United States monitored the vote.

Results

Turnout

Results by wilaya

Results by moughataa

Aftermath

After the preliminary results showed Ghazouani leading in the election, Dah Abeid said that he would not recognize the results of “Ghazouani’s Ceni” and would hold "peaceful" demonstrations in the streets. A spokesperson for the electoral commission said it had recorded no anomalies or complaints regarding the vote. On 2 July, three people were killed during clashes between the security forces and protesters demonstrating against the election results in

Kaédi Kaédi () is the largest city and administrative center of the Gorgol Region of Southern Mauritania, located on the Mauritania–Senegal border, border with Senegal. It is approximately 435 km from Mauritania's capital, Nouakchott. Overview Th ...

, which led authorities to block mobile internet services nationwide. Protests were also held in

Nouadhibou Nouadhibou (; , ), formerly named Port-Étienne, is the second largest city in Mauritania and serves as a major commercial center. The city has about 173,000 inhabitants. It is situated on a 65-kilometre peninsula or headland called Ras Nouadhibou ...

Rosso Rosso is the major city of south-western Mauritania and capital of Trarza Region, Trarza region. It is situated on the Senegal River at the head of the river zone allowing year-round navigation. The town is 204 km south of the capital Nouakc ...

, Zouérate and

Boghé Boghé (also Bogué) is a town and commune in the Brakna Region of southern Mauritania, located on the border with Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocea ...

. On July 4, the Constitutional Council confirmed Ghazouani as the winner of the election.

References

{{Mauritanian elections

Presidential Presidential may refer to: * "Presidential" (song), a 2005 song by YoungBloodZ * Presidential Airways (charter), an American charter airline based in Florida * Presidential Airways (scheduled), an American passenger airline active in the 1980s * ...

Mauritanian presidential election Presidential elections in Mauritania