Mauritania's President Ghazouani wins reelection, the electoral commission says

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania (AP) — 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.”

Speaking hours later from his home in Riadh — a poor suburb of the Mauritanian capital — he called for civil disobedience against the government and appealed to the military and security forces not to “accept being used by the government against the people.”

“The battle is not over, we are not defeated,” he said. “The people are not defeated and will not be defeated, we are there to defend the people until the last drop of blood.”

Although his opponents accused him of corruption and mismanagement, Ghazouani, a former army chief, remains popular among Mauritanians who see him as a beacon of stability. The vote took place in a tense regional climate, with Mauritania’s neighbors shaken by military coups and jihadi violence.

Mauritania is rich in natural resources including iron ore, copper, zinc, phosphate, gold, oil and natural gas. It is poised to become a gas producer by the end of the year, with the planned launch of the BP-operated Greater Tortue Ahmeyin offshore gas project on the border with Senegal.

Yet almost 60% of the population lives in poverty, according to the United Nations, working as farmers or employed informally. With few economic opportunities for young people at home, many are attempting to reach Europe, and some are even trying to get to the United States through Mexico.

The African Union sent an observation mission to Saturday’s vote but have yet to release their statement.

Presidential candidate Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid, center, takes part in a rally among his supporters, ahead of the presidential election end of the month, in Nouakchott, Mauritania, Monday, June 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Mamsy Elkeihel)

A supporter of presidential candidate Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid, holds his poster during his campaign rally ahead of the presidential election end of the month, in Nouakchott, Mauritania, Monday, June 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Mamsy Elkeihel)

Youth take part in an electoral rally ahead of the upcoming presidential elections in Nouakchott, Mauritania, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. Banner in Arabic reads "For the youth." (AP Photo/Mamsy Elkeihel)

An electoral banner for Mauritanian president Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, is seen ahead of the presidential elections in Nouakchott, Mauritania, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. Banner in Arabic reads "I will work on building a complete sewage network in Nouakchott." (AP Photo/Mamsy Elkeihel)

Presidential candidate Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid, left, takes part in a rally among his supporters, ahead of the presidential election end of the month, in Nouakchott, Mauritania, Monday, June 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Mamsy Elkeihel)

A woman sorts out ballot papers, during the presidential election, in Nouakchott, Mauritania, Saturday, June 29, 2024. Mauritanians are voting for their next president, with the incumbent Mohamed Ould Ghazouani widely expected to win the vote after positioning Mauritania as a strategic ally of the West in a region swept by coups and violence. (AP Photo/Mamsy Elkeihel)

A woman casts her ballot during the presidential election, in Nouakchott, Mauritania, Saturday, June 29, 2024. Mauritanians are voting for their next president, with the incumbent Mohamed Ould Ghazouani widely expected to win the vote after positioning Mauritania as a strategic ally of the West in a region swept by coups and violence. (AP Photo/Mamsy Elkeihel)

People wait outside a polling station to vote , during the presidential election, in Nouakchott, Mauritania, Saturday, June 29, 2024. Mauritanians are voting for their next president, with the incumbent Mohamed Ould Ghazouani widely expected to win the vote after positioning Mauritania as a strategic ally of the West in a region swept by coups and violence. (AP Photo/Mamsy Elkeihel)

A man casts his ballot, during the presidential election, in Nouakchott, Mauritania, Saturday, June 29, 2024. Mauritanians are voting for their next president, with the incumbent Mohamed Ould Ghazouani widely expected to win the vote after positioning Mauritania as a strategic ally of the West in a region swept by coups and violence. (AP Photo/Mamsy Elkeihel)

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus announced Tuesday that he will release some seriously ill political prisoners who were jailed during protests against his authoritarian rule in 2020.

It is the first time Lukashenko has mentioned releasing political prisoners on humanitarian grounds since mass protests rocked the country after his disputed reelection for a sixth term in office. Lukashenko is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Belarusian opposition and the West denounced the election as a sham.

During the crackdown following the vote, more than 35,000 people were arrested, thousands were brutally beaten in custody, dozens of independent news organizations and human rights groups were closed and journalists jailed.

According to the Viasna human rights center, there are currently 1,409 political prisoners in Belarus, including Ales Bialiatski, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022. At least six inmates have died behind bars, human rights activists said.

Lukashenko said prisoners who would be freed included those who were “breaking up the country and tearing it apart” during the 2020 protests.

Lukashenko did not say how many would be freed.

“These are really seriously ill people, mostly with cancer. We approach and treat everyone humanely,” he said.

Viasna representative Pavel Sapelka told The Associated Press that as of the beginning of May, at least 254 political prisoners were known to be at particular health risk and 91 were in serious condition.

Belarusian prisons “torture” all political prisoners by depriving them of medical care and information from the outside world, Sapelka said. “A healthy person in a Belarusian prison quickly becomes sick,” he said.

The United Nations has previously appealed to Belarusian authorities over the health of former presidential candidate Ryhor Kastusiou, who is dying in prison of cancer. Journalist Kseniya Lutskina has a brain tumor and political prisoner Pavel Kuchynski also has stage-four cancer.

Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, whose husband Siarhei Tsikhanouski was sentenced to 19 1/2 years in prison, told AP that 15-20 people are arrested every day in Belarus for political reasons and “the repression continues.”

“The urgent release of people in critical condition is not a political issue, but a humanitarian one,” Tsikhanouskaya said. “They should be released without any conditions.”

The U.S. State Department has called for the release of all political prisoners in Belarus.

“We honor the courage of the 1,500 Belarusian political prisoners held captive simply for trying to exercise the freedoms independence is supposed to convey," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday in a statement to mark Belarus' Independence Day.

FILE - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko attends a joint statement with Russian President Vladimir Putin following talks at the Palace of Independence in Minsk, Belarus, on May 24, 2024. Lukashenko will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Astana, Kazakhstan. as his nation becomes a full member of the group. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)