Mauritanians vote in run-off

Voting begins in the country’s second round run-off election.

Mauritania's presidential candidates,
Abdallahi, right, and Daddah have both promised to consolidate democracy if elected [AFP]
About 1.1 million people are eligible to vote in Sunday’s election.
 
Pledges
 
Both candidates have promised reforms and a consolidation of democracy in the country whose largely nomadic population is a complex mix of Arabs and Africans and where slavery persists.

Abdallahi is supported by a powerful coalition of 18 political groups once loyal to Maaouiya Ould Taya, who seized power in 1984 and ruled for 20 years.

Daddah, an ardent critic of Taya, was minister of finance when his half brother Moktar Ould Daddah, the country’s first post-independence leader, was in office.
  
Abdallahi won 25 per cent of the vote in the first round of the election, while Daddah finished with 21 per cent.

On Friday, Abdallahi said because his coalition has a majority in parliament, he would be able to accomplish things more quickly.
  
“We can move the country forward with the largest coalition  possible,” he said, presenting himself as the consensus candidate.   

Daddah spoke about not returning to the past, denouncing “groups who looted the country for 20 years and want to continue to do it”.
  
“But a new hope is born,” he added.

Both candidates have said they will review the country’s diplomatic ties with Israel and have pledged cautious co-operation with the the US “war against terrorism”.

 
But the new president’s greatest challenge will be to tackle poverty and widespread social and economic imbalances.
Source: News Agencies