Mauritanian presidential election, 2009
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| Turnout | 61.51% ( 8.65%) |
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A presidential election was held in Mauritania on 18 July 2009. Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who led the 2008 coup d'état, won a narrow first-round majority in the election, according to official results. A second round, if necessary, would have been held on 1 August 2009.
Following the coup which deposed President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi on 6 August 2008, the new junta (the High Council of State) promised that a presidential election would be held "as soon as possible". The election was subsequently scheduled for 6 June 2009.
Abdel Aziz, who was President of the High Council of State, stepped down in April 2009 in order to stand as a candidate. The opposition initially planned to boycott the election, arguing that the junta pursued a unilateral electoral agenda, and as a result Abdel Aziz was widely expected to win the election. Later, however, the opposition agreed to participate as part of a deal with the junta in June 2009, making the election appear more competitive; as part of the deal, the election was delayed to July and a national unity government was formed to lead the country through the election period.
On 15 September 2008, the National Assembly adopted plans to hold "free and fair elections" within 12–14 months, setting the election date in late 2009 at the latest. The chosen date of 6 June 2009 was announced by the official media on 23 January 2009.
Months before the election, it was widely expected that Abdel Aziz would stand as a candidate; Abdel Aziz said that retired officers should be allowed to run, fuelling speculation that he might retire from the army and run as a civilian. On 4 February 2009, while still expressing support for the coup and saying that Abdallahi should not be restored to the Presidency, Ahmed Ould Daddah—the country's main opposition leader, who heads the Rally of Democratic Forces (RFD) and placed second in the 2007 presidential election—proposed that the army give up power and that anyone who was serving in the military at the time of the coup should not be allowed to run in the presidential election. Abdel Aziz announced that he would run in the election on 29 March 2009, as was widely expected, and said that he would resign as Head of State (to be succeeded by the President of the Senate) in order to stand as a candidate.
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