By Emmanuel Nduka
Mobile internet was cut on Monday night in Mauritania’s capital, AFP reports, after scuffles broke out following the announcement that incumbent Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani had won the presidential election.
Eyewitnesses reported disturbances in working-class districts of Nouakchott on Monday evening, hours after final provisional results showed that Ghazouani had comfortably won re-election in Saturday’s presidential poll.
While the witnesses did not specify the extent of the disorder to AFP, Nouakchott appeared calm on Tuesday, with businesses open as usual.
Elections officials count the votes at a polling station in Nouakchott on June 29, 2024. Mauritanians go to the polls on June 29, 2024, to decide whether to re-elect President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani as head of the vast desert state, seen as a rock of relative stability in the volatile Sahel.
Meanwhile, the authorities have not commented on the mobile internet cuts.
Globally, internet restrictions have become a common tactic by governments around in the face of protests.
Second-place candidate, anti-slavery activist Biram Dah Abeid, on Monday denounced “massive fraud” and threatened peaceful street demonstrations.
Abeid said he was waiting for his own teams to provide election results before taking a “final decision”.
The aftermath of the 2019 election, which brought Ghazouani to power, was marked by clashes and the arrest of opponents as well as nationals of neighbouring countries accused of taking part in demonstrations.
