VZCZCXRO3241
PP RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHGI RUEHJS RUEHKUK RUEHLH
RUEHMA RUEHPA RUEHPW RUEHROV RUEHTRO
DE RUEHNK #0664 2920838
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 190838Z OCT 09
FM AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8842
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUCNISL/ISLAMIC COLLECTIVE
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1239
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0879
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID 2375
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 0825
RUEHDO/AMEMBASSY DOHA 0774
RUEHSM/AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM 0227
RHMFISS/COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEHDS/USMISSION USAU ADDIS ABABA
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1293

UNCLAS NOUAKCHOTT 000664 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM MR
SUBJECT: SENATE ELECTIONS: MAJORITY AND OPPOSITION COMPETE 
FOR FIFTEEN SEATS 
 
REF: NOUAKCHOTT 659 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  Summary:  One third of the senate -- fifteen seats 
-- is up for election on November 8 before the opening of the 
next ordinary parliamentary session in mid-November.  These 
elections will be the first for the majority party Union Pour 
la Republique (UPR), which hopes to assert its control over 
most of the electoral districts at stake.  In an unexpected 
alliance, UPR is presenting a joint list with Islamist party 
and former Front National pour la Defense de la Democratie 
(FNDD) member Tawassoul.  The opposition's FNDD and 
Rassemblement des Forces Democratiques (RFD), which have 
decided to participate despite their unwillingness to 
recognize the new government, will field separate lists. 
Stakes are not high given the senate's limited role in 
parliament but these elections are an opportunity for the 
opposition to carve itself a place in the new political 
environment.  Their outcome will throw further light into the 
new power alliances following Aziz's July 18 win.  End 
summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  Elections to renew one third of the senate are 
scheduled for November 8.  Fifteen seats are up for election 
in eleven electoral districts, namely Hodh Al Charghi, Hodh 
Al Gharbi, Assaba, Gorgol, Trarza, Dakhlet Nouadhibou, 
Tagant, Guidimakha, Tiris Zemmour, Inchiri, and Nouakchott. 
Senate elections are via indirect suffrage with candidates 
lobbying for the votes of members of the Municipal Councils 
in their district.  Mauritanian citizens do not cast votes 
for senators directly. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  These elections are the first for majority party 
UPR, formed in May on the eve of the canceled June 6 
election.  UPR is submitting a joint list with former FNDD 
member Tawassoul, whose candidates head the lists in 
Nouakchott, Boutilimit and Ouad Naga.  Comment:  This 
unexpected alliance has elicited strong reaction from the 
opposition as many in the majority, including Aziz, cited 
President Abdallahi's inclusion of the Islamists in the 
political process as a justification for the coup d'etat. 
End comment.  UPR hopes to control a majority of the seats as 
many of the municipal advisors left their former parties to 
join UPR.  The UPR/Tawassoul alliance confirms Tawassoul's 
new orientation closer to the presidential majority. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  The opposition -- FNDD and RFD -- is participating 
despite its rejection of the July 18 election results.  The 
FNDD, an umbrella organization of parties opposed to the coup 
that includes main opposition parties UFP (Mohamed Ould 
Maouloud) and APP (Messaoud Ould Boulkheir), has decided to 
present a common list.  Despite initial rumors pointing to a 
joint FNDD and RFD list, both will field separate lists but 
have decided to support each other where one has a majority 
of municipal advisors (reftel). 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  Comment:  The stakes are not high given the 
senate's limited role in parliament.  Nevertheless, these 
elections are an opportunity for both the opposition and the 
majority.  After the July 18 debacle, the opposition has now 
a chance to carve a place for itself in the new political 
order.  For Daddah's RFD, it is an opportunity to confirm its 
place as the main opposition party in parliament.  The future 
fate of the FNDD, which is still around despite the end of 
the constitutional crisis and the expectation that it would 
wither away, will likely be decided by its performance in 
this election.  For UPR, the election is an opportunity to 
consolidate itself as a single majority party.  The results 
of the election are likely to shed some light on tribal and 
regional politics following Aziz's win. 
 
BOULWARE