Mauritania to set up poll-monitoring watchdog

Nouakchott, Mauritania (PANA) – Mauritania is planning to set up a poll-monitoring national observatory (ONSE), the government announced Thursday at the end of its Council of ministers’ meeting.

“The establishment followed the need to ensure transparency and fairness in the next elections," the Mauritanian Communications Minister and Spokesman for the government, Mohamed Yahya Ould Horma, disclosed.

“ONSE will be made up of individuals with proven competence, credibility and honesty,"he added.

The legislative and municipal elections in Mauritania are slated for between 23 November and 7 December with 48 political parties registered to contest.

However, the Coordination of the Democratic Opposition (COD), an umbrella of 10 political parties, say they will boycott the polls, citing reported "flaws" in the electoral agenda of the Mauritanian government.
-0- PANA SAS/JSG/IBA/PAN/VAO 1Nov2013