Mauritania's ruling party wins national votes as opposition cries foul
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00:00 The Union Party in Mauritania scored a comfortable victory in last week's legislative and local
00:04 elections. According to official results published on Sunday, the vote being seen as a litmus
00:09 test for the veteran head of state ahead of next year's presidential poll. The elections
00:14 were the first since 2019 when President Ghazouiani came to power. The opposition, meanwhile,
00:20 has cried foul. For more on this, we go to Sam Bradpiece in Dakar.
00:27 The results of these elections in Mauritania were no real surprise. Not since the advent
00:31 of multi-party democracy in the country in 1991 has the president failed to command a
00:36 significant majority in the country's legislature. The ruling El Insaf party and its allies won
00:42 a total of 116 out of 176 seats up for grabs. The opposition have cried foul play, alleging
00:51 massive fraud and noting that one of the main opposition parties, led by a prominent anti-slavery
00:56 activist, was banned from taking part in the elections altogether. Many analysts believe
01:02 that these most recent results will embolden the president to run for a second term in
01:06 office at next year's presidential election.