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Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz has announced that he is not running for a third term. His party’s plan, the largest and strongest political formation in the parliament, to amend the Constitution to pave the way for the president’s election was abandoned.
Ould Abdel Aziz’s announcement was surprising to the political scene in the North African country. However, a list of candidates was made public,days later, including a couple of Mauritanian politicians.
One of these candidates is Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, who is known for being close to Ould Abdel Aziz. Indeed, together, the two men led in August 2008 a coup that toppled President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi.
Presidential election in Mauritania and the impact on Morocco
Since the 2008 coup, Ghazouani’s career has experienced a turning point. Before he was appointed Minister of Defense in the government of Mohamed Salem Ould Bechir, he held the prestigious position of Chief of General Staff of the Mauritanian army.
Giving up on his career as a soldier and a high-ranking officer, Ghazouani is preparing to take on new responsibilities in the presidential party (the Union for the Republic), which was formed in 2009 by Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz after he resigned from the military to run for the President of Mauritania. Ould Ghazouani’s official candidacy will be celebrated in March.
But will this new change in the Mauritanian political scene affect the country’s diplomatic ties with Morocco and help turn the page on tensions ? «As a former general, Ould Ghazouani avoided interfering in politics. It is unlikely that this change would negatively impact relations with Morocco», a well-informed source told Yabiladi.
For the record, Ould Ghazouani is from the «Idboussat» tribe, settled in the country for centuries. Traditional power structures, such as tribes, have determining roles in Mauritania.
