The political framework of Mauritania

Political Outline

Current Political Leaders: President: Mohamed Ould Ghazouani (since 1 August 2019).
Prime Minister: Mohamed Ould Bilal (since 6 August 2020).
Next Election Dates: Presidential: 22 June 2024
Legislative: May 2028
Main Political Parties: The main political parties in Mauritania include:

- Equity Party (El Insaf): a rebranding of the Union for the Republic party; it is the main political party in the country, centre-right, liberal
- Union for Democracy and Progress (UDP): centre
- National Democratic Alliance (AND): centrist
- National Rally for Reform and Development (Tewassoul): Islamic democracy, religious conservatism, it is associated with the Mauritanian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood
- Mauritanian Party of Union and Change (HATEM): centre-right to right-wing
- Dignity Party (El Karama): centre
- Tewassoul group: right-wing parliamentary group.
Executive Power: The chief of state is the president elected by a popular vote for a five-year term. The President's executive powers include the command of the armed forces, the right to appoint high-level executives as well as the promulgation and execution of the law. The democratic system has been restored since 2009 following a military coup.
Legislative Power: The legislature in Mauritania is unicameral. The parliament consists of the National Assembly or Al Jamiya Al Wataniya, composed of 176 statutory seats. Out of the total, 88 members are chosen from either one or two seat districts through a two-round majority system, while the remaining 88 members are elected from a single nationwide constituency through proportional representation. Within the nationwide constituency, 20 seats are specifically allocated for female candidates, 11 seats for candidates aged between 25 and 35, and 4 members are directly elected by the diaspora. All members serve 5-year terms.
The President of the Republic may dissolve the National Assembly after consultation with the Prime Minister and the President of the National Assembly.
Until 2017, the parliament had an upper house, the Senate (Majlis al-Shuyukh/Sénat), which was abolished following a referendum.

Indicator of Freedom of the Press

The world rankings, published annually, measures violations of press freedom worldwide. It reflects the degree of freedom enjoyed by journalists, the media and digital citizens of each country and the means used by states to respect and uphold this freedom. Finally, a note and a position are assigned to each country. To compile this index, Reporters Without Borders (RWB) prepared a questionnaire incorporating the main criteria (44 in total) to assess the situation of press freedom in a given country. This questionnaire was sent to partner organisations,150 RWB correspondents, journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists. It includes every kind of direct attacks against journalists and digital citizens (murders, imprisonment, assault, threats, etc.) or against the media (censorship, confiscation, searches and harassment etc.).

World Rank:: 94/180

Indicator of Political Freedom

Definition

Definition:

The Indicator of Political Freedom provides an annual evaluation of the state of freedom in a country as experienced by individuals. The survey measures freedom according to two broad categories: political rights and civil liberties. The ratings process is based on a checklist of 10 political rights questions (on Electoral Process, Political Pluralism and Participation, Functioning of Government) and 15 civil liberties questions (on Freedom of Expression, Belief, Associational and Organizational Rights, Rule of Law, Personal Autonomy and Individual Rights). Scores are awarded to each of these questions on a scale of 0 to 4, where a score of 0 represents the smallest degree and 4 the greatest degree of rights or liberties present. The total score awarded to the political rights and civil liberties checklist determines the political rights and civil liberties rating. Each rating of 1 through 7, with 1 representing the highest and 7 the lowest level of freedom, corresponds to a range of total scores.

Ranking:: Not Free
Political Freedom:: 5/7

Political freedom in the world (interactive map)
Source: Freedom in the World Report, Freedom House

Any Comment About This Content? Report It to Us.

Trade FiguresPrevious

NextCovid-19