Opposition needs a 'miracle'
2003-10-28 14:49
Nouakchott - The manager of Mauritanian President Maaouiya Ould Taya's campaign for re-election next month has scorned the long-time leader's main challengers and accused them of seeking to hoodwink the public.
Hamoud Ould M'Hamed told a press conference late on Monday that three of the five other presidential hopefuls in the November 7 vote were staggering their campaign rallies to "fool public opinion about their actual ability to mobilise the masses."
He named long-time opposition leader Ahmed Ould Daddah; Messaoud Ould Boulkheir, the first descendant of slaves to run for president in the northwest African desert country; and former president Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla.
Ould Taya, in power in Mauritania since 1984, faces two other minor challengers, Moulaye el Hacen Jied, an also-ran in 1997, and Aicha Mint Jeddane, the only woman candidate.
Ould M'Hamed recalled that in 2001, during legislative and municipal elections, the opposition was able to compete in only 39 of the country's 216 districts.
Hoping for a miracle
"By what miracle will it hope only two years later to achieve a better score?" he asked.
"On the day of the vote, the lying and cheating will collapse like a house of cards in the face of the people's will," he said.
The New York-based group Human Rights Watch last month warned of a "climate of harassment of opposition members" and voiced fears over the fairness of the upcoming vote in the former French colony.
It noted the arrests of dozens of religious leaders, opposition politicians and social activists on allegations of involvement in terrorist activities.
Last Tuesday, as official campaigning was about to begin the three main opposition candidates reiterated concerns over potential fraud and said they regretted that the European Union had not been asked to send observers.
Ould M'Hamed, asked why the electoral authorities had not invited outside observers, said that Mauritania's democracy was "sufficiently mature."
"We refuse to be eternally aided in this area," he said, while adding that diplomats present in Nouakchott and other foreign individuals including journalists could freely observe the polling.
Meanwhile the US embassy announced that an eight-member team of observers had arrived at the weekend and said it hoped the election would take place in "full transparency."
Opposition candidate and former president Ould Haidalla's spokesperson complained at the weekend that the president's reelection campaign was taking over public buildings and spaces, and that the army chief of staff and supreme court chief justice were campaigning on his behalf.
Ould Taya, who seized power in a coup, was elected president in the country's first multi-party poll in 1992, and re-elected five years later.