Mauritania Opposition Rejects Vote Results

Opposition candidates in Mauritania on Monday rejected results of the country's presidential election in which ruling party candidate Mohamed Ould Ghazouani was declared winner.



Election commission said Ould Ghazouani, a former defense minister, won 52.01% of the votes cast in Saturday's polls.





"We do not recognize the results announced by the electoral commission," Mohammed Ould Mouloud, who won only 2.44% of the votes, told a press conference in Nouakchott.





"We call for announcing the results office by office so that we can compare the results with the records we have," he said, claiming there was "a blatant fraud in some offices."





The candidate said the opposition will stage a rally in the capital Nouakchott to protest the vote results.





The press conference was attended by other opposition candidates Kane Hamidou Baba, Mohamed Ould Boubaker and Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid.





The vote results are yet to be validated by Mauritania's Constitutional Council.





Ould Ghazouani is an ally of incumbent President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who came to power after a coup in 2008.





Six candidates had vied in Saturday's vote, which was seen as the first democratic election in the country since Mauritania gained independence in 1960. -