Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani will face six challengers in the African country’s June 29 presidential elections, according to a final list presented Monday by the constitutional council.
Ghazouani, 67, is favoured to win a second term as head of the country of 4.5 million that sits at a strategic spot between north and sub-Saharan Africa.
The council did not accept the candidacy of the previous president, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who is in prison for embezzlement, which he has always denied.
Aziz had been allowed out of jail last week to submit his candidacy at the constitutional council, but it was rejected for having an insufficient number of sponsors, said a source close to the council.
Among the prospective candidates in the June vote are the leader of the opposition party, Hamadi Ould Sid’ El Moctar, and human rights activist Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid, who came second behind Ghazouani in the 2019 vote.
Mauritania was hit by a series of coups from 1978 to 2008 before the 2019 election marked the first transition between two elected presidents.
While insurgency has spread elsewhere in the Sahel, particularly in neighbouring Mali, Mauritania has not seen an attack since 2011.