NOUAKCHOTT: Mauritania’s president Mohamed Ould Ghazouani held an unassailable lead in the West African nation’s presidential election with over 91% of votes counted, provisional results showed today.
Ghazouani – a 67-year-old former army chief of staff and defence minister who is widely expected to win the race in the first round – had 55.72% of the vote, the tallies on the electoral commission’s website showed as of 2.40pm.
The results from 4,068 polling stations out of the total 4,503 showed that his main rival, anti-slavery activist Biram Dah Abeid, was at 22.46%, while Hamadi Sidi El Mokhtar of the Islamist Tewassoul party was third with 13%.
Preliminary figures showed the turnout at yesterday’s vote was just under 55%, the commission said.