Communications Minister Ould Hormah told the press that the
government expected a strong turnout and that the elections would use
advanced technology. He was specifically referring to biometric voter
registration which, he said, would be deployed to ensure the elections
were "transparent and credible".
The extent of the government's administrative and technological
preparedness for the elections is not at all clear. While the
government has, for some time, been making bland statements
about the electoral role and biometric registration being at an
advanced stage, there is no sign of hard evidence to back up the claim.
Indeed, the COD certainly believes otherwise. It issued a statement on
Sunday 4 August saying, “Most of the Mauritanian people haven't
received identification cards, while the rest haven't been registered
yet and will not be registered anytime soon because the necessary
circumstances aren't available.”
There are still two months before the election and, as the
recent election in neighbouring Mali has shown, a lot can be done in
the last few weeks. But that could be difficult to achieve in
Mauritania, largely because it will not have the same level of
help from Western countries, notably from France and the UN.
If there are administrative and voter registration problems,
then the situation would appear to be even worse among Mauritanian
expatriate communities abroad, especially in France where the signs are
that the majority are still not registered.
For more news and expert analysis about Mauritania, please see Mauritania Politics & Security.
© 2013 Menas Associates
No comments:
Post a Comment