Mauritanians will vote for a new president on Saturday in what is expected to be the West African country’s first peaceful transfer of power since independence from France in 1960.
President Mohammed Ould Abdel Aziz will step down after serving two five-year terms since he took power in a coup in 2008, resisting a trend in which post-colonial African leaders have sought to extend their rule beyond constitutional limits.
Togo and Chad have in the past two years capped their presidential mandates to two five-year terms – but those laws will not be applied retroactively, allowing the current presidents to stay in power potentially for over 10 years more.
Abdel Aziz, an ally of Western powers in the fight against Islamists in the Sahel region, leaves behind an economy that has picked up since 2017 after a drop in the price of iron ore dented export profits.
The International Monetary Fund expects growth of nearly 6% this year, up from 3.5% in 2018. The economy will receive a boost when a large offshore gas field starts producing early next decade.
