Mauritanian Elections: Surprises in the capital Governments policies “deeply unpopular”-

Sheikh Bekaye -BBC – Focus on Africa –Opposition parties made considerable gains in the capital Nouakchott, winning six out of the nine municipalities. But overall, the ruling party took 64 seats in the 81-seat National Assembly

The opposition managed only eleven,while six other parliamentary seats went to small parties backing the president

The opposition has given no official reaction yet to President Ould Taya’s statement that he will not form acoalition government with them
But while their leaders told me that they were not keen to join the government either
Observers here have described the elections as free and fair for the first time since multi-party politics were introduced a decade ago

Yesterday, the president told journalists that the transparency of the poll was a “great victory” for the country

The opposition had boycotted previous polls, saying they were
fraudulent and designed to keep the government in power

Analysts say the opposition did well in the capital because the
government’s policies are deeply unpopular, while the new
political forces were advocating change, and above all, the
decision of the opposition parties to unite after their defeat in the first round

BBC – Focus on Africa 27/10/2001