Mauritania's ruling Equity Party, also known by its Arabic name El Insaf, won a majority of seats in legislative and local elections held on 13 May, according to official results published on Sunday.
The polls were the first elections held in the country since President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani was elected in the 2019 presidential elections. According to reports from local media, the incumbent president is expected to seek re-election in 2024, even though he has not yet confirmed he will be standing.
A total of 25 political parties were vying for the support of the nation's 1.8 million voters. Results of the polls, announced by the head of the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), Dah Abdel Jelil, indicate that Ghazouani's El Insaf party secured 80 of the 176 seats in parliament, the National Assembly.
Thirty-six seats were won by parties allied to the president, and the opposition obtained 24 seats, of which nine went to the Islamist Tewassoul movement. The latter was the main opposition party in the outgoing parliament.
A second round for the remaining 36 parliamentary seats is scheduled for 27 May.
The ruling party also won 13 regional councils and 165 out of the 238 municipalities. The rest of the municipalities are divided between parties allied to the president and the opposition.
After the elections, the opposition declared "enormous fraud" had taken place during the polls, which witnessed an official turnout of 71.8 percent. Several opposition parties called for the cancellation of the election results, alleging that the parliamentary, local and regional polls were marred by irregularities.