[M-net] ALJAZEERA.NET : Poll results emerge in Mauritania

[News-Bulletin de M-Net]

-- 
-----
Le News-Bulletin de Mauritanie-Net, vous informe sur les actualites de la
Mauritanie email de la rédaction : mauritanienet at gmail.com
-----

Poll results emerge in Mauritania
ALJAZEERA NET
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/20182F05-0A68-41F7-B6D2-142B77839219.htm

  Mauritania's opposition is ahead in parliamentary elections conducted at
the weekend according to a partial count of votes cast, officials and
politicians have said.

The opposition RFD party, oppressed under Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, the
country's ex-president, has emerged as the single largest force in the
95-member national assembly.
       However, the early results show that support for the RFD is well
short of the overall majority needed for it to govern independently,
according to sources in the Mauritanian government.

Failure to win an outright majority would force the RFD to build a broader
coalition in order to rule.

"The political scene is wide open: no one is going to have a majority," the
source said.



"Mauritania will be governed by a coalition and parties will have to lay
aside their old differences."



*Elections follow coup*



Sunday's elections in the Saharan republic follow a bloodless military coup
in August 2005 that ended 21 years of dictatorship.



The ruling military junta has promised to step aside following presidential
elections due in March.



>From the partial results, the RFD has so far won around 12 parliamentary
seats with a further five going to the APP, one of its partners in the
Forces of Democratic Change coalition, a source said.



"In all probability, we will be the largest single party," RFD leader Ahmed
Ould Daddah said.



He predicted they would win around 20 deputies. "Our coalition is still open
to new members but we believe that we will be able to form a government."



*Appeal*



Independent candidates comprise around one-third of the 45 legislators
already elected, sources said, handing them an important say in the balance
of power.



Daddah said polling had been transparent but complained the proportional
representation system discriminated in favour of smaller parties.



Daddah said the RFD would present an appeal to the electoral commission.



Foreign observers have given the polls a clean bill of health, but raised
concerns over a lack of voter education which led many people to spoil their
ballots inadvertently.



*Independents*



Diplomats say independent candidates, who were encouraged by the military
junta to offer an alternative to established parties, were a mixture of
dissidents from the former ruling PDRS party, Islamists and genuine
independent politicians.



Many moderate Islamists stood as independent candidates or for the Centrist
Reformists party.



"As we looked at who the independent candidates were, there really were a
smattering of different people," said Charles Twining, charge d'affaires at
the US embassy.



"Once the results are out, we are going to have to look at the individual
names to see who is who."



=====
INFORMATION : Les articles sélectionnés pour cette revue de ­presse ne
reflètent pas nécessairement l'opinion du comite de gestion de
Mauritanie-Net. Nous ne nous portons pas garant de  la véracité ­et de
l'objectivité  des informations publiées dans ces  articles ­qui  engagent
la responsabilité des seuls auteurs. Nous vous prio­ns de bien vouloir en
tenir compte. Merci.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: /pipermail/m-net_mauritanie-net.com/attachments/20061124/4f763029/attachment-0001.html