NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania – Mauritania's ruling party secured a majority of seats in the recent parliamentary election, with results issued this weekend by the country's election commission giving it 74 seats in the 147-seat legislature.
The decisive victory for the Union of the Republic party assures that President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who came to power in a 2008 coup, will retain complete control of the organs of state. Around a dozen opposition parties had boycotted the election, to protest what they said was a lack of transparency in the electoral process.
Election commission chief Abdallahi Ould Soueid'Ahmed said 72 percent of registered voters took part in the first round of voting on Nov. 23 and nearly 76 percent in the runoff election held Dec. 21.
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