Mauritanian vote 'appears transparent'

Nov 19, 2006, 15:37 GMT

Nouakchott - Parliamentary and municipal elections in Mauritania appeared to be proceeding transparently on Sunday, possibly making them the north-west African country's first democratic polls in decades, observers said.

European Union chief observer Marie Anne Isler Beguin said the voting was proceeding smoothly. 'We have not seen fraud in the first morning hours, except for the late opening of one polling station in Nouakchott,' she explained.

'We are in contact with all the observers in Mauritania's 13 regions, but we have not observed violations of the rules so far,' she added.

About 500 observers are supervising the elections, including 200 international supervisors from organizations such as the African Union, the Arab League and the European Union.

The ruling military junta had promised democratic elections to usher in a new era after decades of military coups and de facto one-party rule.

More than a million people were eligible to vote in the desert country of 3 million, where the junta pledged to hand power over to civilians after toppling the 21-year rule of President Maaouya Ould Taya in a bloodless coup in August 2005.

'This is a historic opportunity for Mauritanians and for democracy in Mauritania,' junta leader Ely Ould Mohammed Vall said after casting his vote.

If Ould Vall honours his pledge of holding transparent elections, the elections will be the first time that power changes hands through the ballot box in the Islamic republic, a former French colony.

Members of the junta or of the transitional civilian government could not be candidates.

'I will not be a candidate in the (upcoming) presidential elections and I do not back anyone in the parliamentary or presidential elections,' Ould Vall stressed.

There have, however, been allegations that the junta has sought to influence the elections by promoting a large number of independent candidates, and that illiterate voters have not been informed sufficiently about how the complex voting system works.

Voter turnout appeared high in the capital Nouakchott, with long queues forming in front of polling stations.

'I came because I believe things will change for Mauritanians,' housewife Lalla Fall said.

'We trust that the military will keep their promises,' agreed Sidaty Ould Mahmoud, a phone card seller, but a man named Hamza Ould Demba was skeptical.

'Since many of the candidates are the same that have been there for the past two decades, I don't expect things to change even if the poll is democratic,' he said.

More than 25 political parties representing a wide spectrum of views as well as numerous independent candidates were running for the 95-strong parliament and 216 municipal councils.

The election results were expected on Monday. In constituencies where no party gets an absolute majority, a second round will be held on December 3.

The main parties included the Rally of Democratic Forces (RFD) of moderate technocrat and veteran opposition leader Ahmed Ould Daddah and the Republican Party for Democracy and Renewal (PRDR), which is Ould Taya's former party.

The Popular Alliance for Progress (APP) is headed by Messaoud Ould Boulkheir, a former slave and champion of slave descendants known as Haratins or 'black Moors' in the country where they feel discriminated against by the mostly light-skinned Arab-Berber 'white Moors.'

Campaign themes have included slavery, with many parties saying that Mauritania must eliminate all vestiges of the practice, which was abolished officially in 1981.

Novelties included moderate Islamists, who had been barred from elections until now.

The regime still did not allow them to have their own party, arguing that no group could act as the sole representative of Islam. The Islamists were running as independent candidates or as members of other parties.

Mauritania is one of the few Arabic countries to have established diplomatic relations with Israel. It has also cooperated in the US war against terrorism, and about 20 Islamic radicals are currently in prison.

One party, the Union for Democracy and Progress (UDP), is headed by a woman, Naha Mint Mouknass. The parliament and municipal councils will have at least 20 per cent of female members in line with a new law to abolish 'ancient habits of women being dominated by men,' Ould Vall said.

Political parties had to give women prominent places on their lists or risk not being able to participate in the elections.

The 20 per cent quota was 'a rare initiative in an Arab-Muslim country,' female lawyer Jemina Mint Ichidou said.

The parliamentary and municipal elections are the second in a string of polls aimed at launching a democratic era.

They were preceded by a referendum in June which overwhelmingly approved a new constitution limiting the president's mandate to two five-year terms.

A vote for the senate will take place in January, and the democratization process will by wrapped up by presidential elections in March 2007.

The newly-elected authorities will be expected to continue forging a democratic Mauritania after 20 years of practices such as press censorship, jailing opponents and cronyism under Ould Taya.

They will also have an opportunity to relieve the poverty of the desert country if it manages the new oil wealth wisely. Mauritania is one of Africa's upcoming oil producers, where an Australian-led consortium started extracting oil this year.