Nouakchott - The four main opposition candidates in Mauritania's presidential elections on Sunday denounced the poll as a charade after early incomplete results put the ex-junta chief in the lead.
"The results which are starting to come out show that it is an electoral charade which is trying to legitimise the coup" on August 6 last year, the anti-junta front's candidate Messaoud Ould Boulkheir told a press conference.
The parliamentary speaker was also speaking on behalf of Ahmed Ould Daddah, head of the main opposition party, the Rally of Democratic Forces, Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, former junta chief (2005-2007), and Hamai Ould Meimou, an ex-ambassador and independent candidate.
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The press conference was called after partial results issued by the interior ministry gave coup leader Mohammed Ould Abdel Aziz 51.6 percent of the votes out of a third of the ballots counted.
The four opposition candidates published a joint declaration rejecting the "prefabricated results" and calling on the international community to carry out an independent enquiry into voting irregularities.
They called on "competent bodies" like the constitutional council and interior ministry not to validate the results and for the Mauritanian people to "mobilise to defeat this electoral coup d'etat".
Meanwhile supporters of the ex-junta chief already began celebrating his expected victory on the streets of the capital overnight.
His director of communications was confident he would win without the need for a second runoff round.
"Ould Abdel Aziz should get between 52 and 53 percent of the votes. Without question we will make it in the first round," Cheikhna Ould Nenni said.
Ould Abdel Aziz, who toppled president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi in a coup on August 6, 2008, ceded control as head of the junta in April and resigned from the army to contest Saturday's election.
Nine candidates competed in the polls, intended to restore constitutional democracy to this arid, but potentially oil-rich country in north-west Africa. - AFP
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