Almotamar.net - NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania: No candidate garnered more than 50 percent in a vote widely seen as Mauritania's first truly free presidential ballot, forcing a runoff between the top two contenders later this month, according to partial results released Monday.
In a country where a series of coups and dictators has kept power from ever changing hands in an election, Sunday's vote � organized by a ruling junta that seized power in a bloodless coup nearly two years � was seen by many in the northwest African country as their first-ever chance to freely choose their leader.
With 86 percent of the vote tallied, former government minister Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi had received 23 percent, followed by longtime opposition leader Ahmed Ould Daddah with 21 percent, Interior Minister Mohamed Ahmed Ould Mohamed Lamine said.
Even if one of those two candidates received all the remaining votes, he would not have the more than 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff.
The campaign staff of both candidates confirmed that they were now planning for a second tour, though Lamine said he would not officially declare a runoff until all the votes were counted.
Nineteen candidates ran in Mauritania's election. The runoff is expected to take place on March 25.
Mauritania has experienced 10 coups or attempted coups since gaining independence from France in 1960. The election it has held before Sunday's were widely viewed as rigged. The last coup, though, was different, with junta leader Col. Ely Ould Mohamed Vall vowing he was stepping in only to usher in democracy. Vall fulfilled a major part of that promise by refusing to enter a candidate.
Though there were no polls to give a sense of front-runners, many Mauritanians had said that Abdallahi and Daddah were favorites.
Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi is a former government minister � of finance in one administration of fishing under 21-year ruler Maaoya Sid'Ahmed Ould Taya. He fell out with Taya in 1987 and spent six months under house arrest. He is seen by some as a coalition candidate � supported by a group of 18 parties along with some of Taya's former officials.
Before the vote, Abdallahi stressed that he had broad support:
"In our parliament, 54 out of 95 deputies supported me and 40 out of 53 senators. This is an expression of the majority of Mauritanians," he said. "Why should this majority be invalidated?"
Daddah � the brother of Mauritania's post-independence leader and first president � is a longtime opposition figure who ran twice against Taya in past ballots and spent four years under house arrest.
An independent candidate, Zeine Ould Zeidane, was third in the partial results with 14 percent, Lamine said.
The interior minister said 60 percent of the 1.1 million registered voters cast ballots Sunday.
International observers said late Sunday that early reports indicated voting had been free and transparent.
"This event marks the turning of a page in the history of Mauritania. For the first time, the people have been able to vote freely, without intervention," said Marie Anne Isler Beguin, chief of the European Union's 80-member election observer mission.
Still, voting was not entirely peaceful. Beguin said a guard at a polling station in the southern town of Kaedi was shot and killed during the night by a group of unidentified armed men. The assailants were not captured and their target was unclear, Beguin said.
Mauritania, a nation of about 3 million in northwest Africa, is overwhelmingly Muslim.
___Agencies