Mauritania’s President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani has been re-elected to office after winning 56.12 per cent of the vote, provisional results showed.

His main rival, Biram Dah Abeid, an anti-slavery human rights activist, came in second place after winning 22 per cent of the vote.

Hamadi Sidi Mokhtar of the Islamist Tawasul Party got 12.76 per cent.

Elections were held on Saturday in Mauritania, a former French colony in north-west Africa.

Results were announced late Sunday after 99 per cent of the votes were counted.

Before the announcement, Abeid alleged that there was fraud, and riot police dispersed his supporters demonstrating against the results using tear gas, witnesses said.

Mauritanians were hoping the president would work on improving their living conditions, decrease unemployment, and fight corruption and poverty.

Ould Ghazouani, 67, has promised to focus on supporting the youth during his second term.

Ould Ghazouani, a former defence minister, was elected in 2019 in the country’s first peaceful transition of power.

His predecessor Mohamed Ould Abdel-Aziz took office after a 2008 military coup. (dpa/NAN)