NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania — Mauritania's President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani has been reelected for a second term, the country's electoral commission said on Monday, after positioning the country as a strategic ally of the West in a region swept by coups and violence.
Ghazouani, who campaigned on a pledge of providing security and economic growth, obtained 56.1% of votes, the country's independent electoral commission said Monday. His main rival Biram Dah Abeid, an anti-slavery activist, received 22.1% of the votes. He rejected the partial results announced Sunday and called them a fraud.
The turnout was 55% of the two million eligible voters, the commission said.
The country's constitutional court will now review the vote numbers and announce the final results, though it remains unclear when that will happen.
Saturday's vote unfolded peacefully, according to observers.
''Nothing has been detected so far and the CENI has not received any complaints,'' said Taghioullah Ledhem, the spokesman for CENI, the country's independent electoral commission.
But some opposition candidates held a different view. The commission is made up of representatives of political parties and its president is appointed by the government, and some accused it of colliding with Ghazouani's regime.
Abeid claimed that he was the real winner. The provisional results were an ''electoral coup d'état" to help Ghazouani, he told a news conference Sunday. He accused the electoral commission of fraudulently giving Ghazouni thousands of votes ''out of nowhere.''