MAURITANIA: Mauritanians prepare to go to the polls for country's parliamentary and municipal elections

Mauritanians were preparing on Saturday (November 18) for the country's parliamentary and municipal ballots, which will be the first elections since a bloodless 2005 coup. Sunday's polls will test the willingness of their military rulers to hand over the Saharan country to civilian, democratic rule. The ballot in the impoverished Islamic Republic, which straddles black and Arab West Africa, is the first election since the August 2005 coup ended two decades of dictatorship and it paves the way for presidential elections in March. The campaign has brought two weeks of celebrations to the farthest reaches of the desert nation of 3 million people, with music and political slogans blaring from loudspeakers late into the night at carpeted Bedouin tents in towns and villages. Power has never changed hands through the ballot box in Mauritania, whose history has been marred by coups and decades of one party rule since independence from France in 1960 -- a trend which Sunday's vote hopes to correct. "Really, this is good for Mauritania, for the advancement, development and all this, we have changed, and are changing for the democracy, we have started to make democracy," said a Nouakschott resident, Ihman Schamag. Many Mauritanians, however, remain unconvinced the legislative and municipal polls will usher in a better life. The military council, headed by Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, has pushed ahead with political reform since ousting President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya. A referendum in June approved constitutional changes to limit presidential terms -- making Mauritania one of the few Arab nations to impose such measures and bucking the trend in sub-Saharan Africa. Mauritania started pumping oil in February, but initial results from the field operated by Australia's Woodside Petroleum have been disappointing. Twenty-eight political parties are competing for the 95 seats in the national assembly, with the Assembly of Democratic Forces (RFD) of veteran opposition leader Ahmed Ould Daddah expected to perform strongly. The military junta has also encouraged independent candidates to take part: of the 1,222 electoral lists for municipal elections, over a quarter are independents. Many Mauritanians see this as a effort to humble political parties. The national assembly building in Nouakchott is currently serving as the headquarters of the military junta. Observers say the presence of black African parties may raise tensions with the traditional Moorish elite, which holds power in Africa's newest oil producer. Diplomats are also watching for support toward Islamist candidates in a region regarded as an arena in the U.S. war on terror. But Alain Hutchinson, leader of an EU parliament delegation of observers, said he was optimistic. "So we are confident, no we are not sceptical, because we hope that things are going to improve, but we think that this is only one step in a very long process. You can't solve all the problems coming out of 30 years of dictatorship, you can't solve all the problems in one election. So it's a first step and this step must be the good one, must be the good one," he said. Sitting in a Bedouin tent dressed in a white headscarf, Ramla Taj Dine is one of hundreds of Mauritanian women seeking office in Sunday's elections under a new law many hope will be an example to the Arab Muslim world. The military junta adopted a law this year specifying that one-fifth of every party's candidates must be women. "The quota (number of seats) reserved for women is very important. This will allow the women parliamentarians to play their roles to their fullest, in the economic and social development of this country, which is very important because from the history of this country, the women do their best to participate effectively to the contruction of this country and also to its development," Taj Dine told Reuters as a group of girls sang songs in their native Hassaniya. Taj Dine was meeting supporters and well-wishers in a carpeted tent alongside a busy road in Nouakchott. She is running for mayor of the capital's biggest commune of Lkasr for the Democratic Renewal (RD) party. Women in Mauritania, which straddles black and Arab Africa, enjoy many more freedoms than women in some other Islamic Republics. They can vote and travel freely, and play an important role in the economic life of the desert nation. But during decades of coups and one-party rule since independence from France in 1960, their role in public life has been limited. Only one woman was elected mayor in 2001. The new law demands "zebra" electoral lists: if a man is the party's first choice candidate, a woman must be the second, and so on. With all municipal polls and many parliamentary seats decided by proportional representation, women are poised to wield significant political clout. The decision to set quotas for women caused consternation among many political groups, and not only the Republican Party for Democracy and Renewal (PRDR) which ruled Mauritania for more than two decades under dictator Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya. The head of the ruling military council, Col. Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, has strongly defended the decision. International aid organisations and the United Nations have organised legal training for women candidates. Observers also note an enthusiastic response among the electorate.

ITN Source | November 19, 2006

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