At Stake in this Election:

• The Presidency of Mauritania

Government Structure:

• Chief of State: President Mohamed Ould Cheikh el GHAZOUANI (since 1 August 2019)
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Mohamed Ould BILAL (since 6 August 2020)
• Assembly: unicameral National Assembly (Al Jamiya Al Wataniya) which consists of 176 seats

Electoral System:

• The President is directly elected by absolute majority popular vote in 2 rounds if needed. The President serves a 5-year term.
• The Prime Minister is appointed by the President.
• 88 members in the National Assembly are elected from one or two seat constituencies via two-round majority vote. The other members 88 are elected from a single, nationwide constituency directly elected by proportional representation vote. Among these 88 national seats, 20 seats are reserved for women, 11 for candidates between the ages of 25-35, and 4 are reserved for diaspora voters. All members serve 5-year terms.

Last Election:

The last presidential election was held in 2019. Mohamed Ould Ghazouani received 483,312 votes (52.01%), Biram Dah Abeid received 172,656 votes (18.58%), and Sidi Mohamed Ould Boubacar received 166,058 (17.87%). All other candidates received less than 10% of the vote. Voter turnout was 63%.

Information for Voters:

كيف أصوت / Comment voter / How to Vote (in Arabic and French)

New/Unique in this Election:

4 seats were added in the National Assembly to represent the Mauritanian diaspora.

Key Deadlines:

• Candidate filing deadline: 11 May 2024
• Voter registration deadline: 15 April 2024

Main Candidates in this Election:

• Mohamed Cheikh El Ghazouani
  • Party: Equity Party / Parti El Insaf / حزب الإنصاف
• Mohamed Lemine El Mourtaja El Wavi
  • Party: Independent
• Hamadi Sidi El Mokhtar Mohamed Abdi
  • Party: National Rally for Reform and Development / Rassemblement National pour la Réforme et le Développement / التجمع الوطني للإصلاح و التنمية (RNRD)
• Otouma Antoine Souleimane Soumare
  • Party: Independent
• Mamadou Bocar Ba
  • Party: Alliance for Justice and Democracy/Movement for Renewal / Alliance pour la justice et la démocratie/Mouvement pour la rénovation / التحالف من أجل العدالة والديمقراطية / حركة التجديد (AJD/MR)
• El-Id Mohameden M’bareck
  • Party: Republican Front for Unity and Democracy (part of the coalition Hope Mauritania / Espoir Mauritanie / أمل موريتانيا)
• Biram Dah Abeid
  • Party: Independent

Population and Registered Voters:

• Population: 4,736,139 (2022 estimate)
• Registered Voters: 1,786,448 (2023 estimate)

Gender Data:

• Female Population: 2,414,910 (2022 est.)
• CEDAW Status: Accepted 10 May 2001
• Gender Quota:  Yes, 20 seats in the National Assembly are reserved for women.
• Female Candidates in this election: No
• Number of Female Legislators (pre-election): 41 out of 176
• Human Development Index (HDI) Position: 0.540 (Low) (2024 estimate)
• Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: 67.4

Disability Data:

• CRPD Status: Accepted 3 April 2012
• Projected population with a disability: 757,782 (2022 estimate)

IFES Resources:

• Does IFES have a presence in Mauritania: Yes, programming
• Election Snapshot: Yes
• Election Access: Yes