Civil society organisations monitor presidential election in Mauritania

2007-03-04

Civil society organisations in Mauritania are relying on 800 observers spread out across the country to monitor the course of the presidential elections and ensure that it is conducted with full transparency and fairness.

By Adil Dekkaki for Magharebia in Washington -- 04/03/07

[Getty Images] NGOs have deployed 800 observers to monitor the elections

The election campaign in Mauritania is heating up, with less than a week left before citizens go to the polls to choose their new president. The country's NGOs have deployed 800 observers to monitor campaigns by 19 candidates in various parts of the country. Lmrabet Ould Sayed is a lawyer and member of the National Mauritanian Elections Watch (ONE), an alliance of various civil society organisations. He talked to Magharebia about how his organisation has been monitoring the election.

Magharebia: The presidential campaigns in Mauritania have intensified, and we’re now in the middle of the two-week campaign period. At the ONE, what’s your assessment of the election campaigns?

Ould Sayed: As of right now, we have not seen any violations by the candidates against other candidates. The campaigns are being conducted in an equal way, and candidates are moving about freely from region to region and from city to city in order to explain their electoral platforms… Campaigning is proceeding under fair conditions.

Magharebia: In your estimation, have all necessary measures been taken to ensure that the voting process is carried out in a fair and transparent way?

Ould Sayed: According to what we observed so far, The Ministry of Interior and the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) have been providing all that is necessary to enable voters to perform their duty on voting day. Work is still moving forward to distribute ballot boxes, the heads of polling stations and voting cards and so forth.

Magharebia: There are observers from the European Union, the United Nations, the Arab League, Reporters Without Borders and others, in addition to numerous domestic civil society organisations in Mauritania. Is there co-ordination between all of these entities?

Ould Sayed: Yes… each works in a different way, but they do co-operate. The international observers who come to Mauritania usually monitor the cities, and rarely cover the rural areas, which often see a lack of transparency in elections. Local observers monitor the entire nation, in both rural and urban areas. The international and local observers adhere to the same procedure and receive the same training in elections monitoring.

Magharebia: What are the monitoring mechanisms the ONE follows in order to oversee the voting process?

Ould Sayed: We at the National Mauritanian Elections Watch have an agreement with the Mauritanian Ministry of the Interior, under which all observers have complete freedom of travel throughout the country, whereby they enter the polling centres, observe their operations and file reports. As of right now, 800 observers from various civil society organisations have been trained. I’m now in a rural region of the country to follow up the activity and authorisation of local observers.

Magharebia: Tell us about the makeup of your organisation.

Ould Sayed: The National Mauritanian Elections Watch is comprised of volunteers from civil society, including lawyers, doctors and experts, as well as from human rights organisations and various other social organisations.