- ActivitesHuman Rights
- May 30, 2009
- 2 minutes read
Elections in Mauritania

While Mauritania will hold elections on June 6, no major opposition figures will participate and the election of General Muhammad Ould Abdel-Aziz, who led the August 2008 coup, is nearly certain. In The Daily Star, Christopher Boucek outlines how Mauritanian politics are dominated by military personalities despite calls from opposition parties that military officers involved in coups not be permited to stand for office. Such calls may have led to Abdel-aziz’s resignation from the High State Council and the April announcement that he would run as a civilian candidate. Boucek asserts, however, that western security concerns will continue to combine with this military political influence to put “governance issues ahead of transnational security concerns”.