The Assembly of Democratic Forces (RFD) of Ahmed Ould Daddah accused the Mauritanian government of using “reprehensible procedures” during the senatorial elections which took place on Sunday.
“This shows how the government is keen on altering the will of the Mauritanian people and preventing them from expressing themselves as it was the case during the last presidential election,” said the RFD in a press release made public on Tuesday in Nouakchott.
The release indicated that the government managed to “buy votes” and to put into practice the carrot and stick approach as well as “to get its candidates elected in all the constituencies.”
The opposition did not win any of the 17 seats at stake as one third of the Mauritanian Senate was to be renewed.
“This occurred at a time when the government is pretending to carry out reforms and to fight against corruption,” explained the RFD, adding that it participated in those elections in order to “reaffirm its commitment to democratic pluralism and national legislative institutions.”
The dispatch noted that the government “neither accepts any form of pluralism nor any opinion from others,” while laying the emphasis on the fact that “it has chosen a way likely to worsen the political, security, economic and social crisis” prevailing in the country.
Ould Daddah’s party, however, expressed once again its commitment to sincere dialogue as a way out for the country to get out of the vicious circle by setting up an enquiry committee on the previous presidential election.
Source African Press Agency
