Mauritania ruling party's Ghazouani declared presidential vote winner

Mauritania's ruling party candidate Mohamed Ould Ghazouani has won the presidential election with 52 percent of the vote, the electoral commission announced Sunday, with opposition candidates crying foul.

Ghazouani obtained 52.01 percent of votes cast in Saturday's presidential poll, easily beating main opposition opponents Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid (18.58 percent) and Sidi Mohamed Ould Boubacar (17.87 per cent), according to the official figures.

Boubacar, addressing a news conference along with three other candidates, charged that "multiple irregularities... eliminated any credibility" of the election in the West African desert nation.

"We reject the results of the election and we consider that they in no way express the will of the Mauritanian people," he said, vowing that the opposition would use "every legal means" to challenge them.

The CENI electoral commission said that voter turnout was 62.66 per cent.

With a clear majority of the votes, the 62-year-old Ghazouani, former head of the domestic security service, has won outright with no need for a second-round runoff election.