Mohamed al-Bakai
16 March 2019•Update: 16 March 2019
NOUAKCHOTT
Former Mauritanian Prime Minister Sidi Mohamed Ould Boubacar on Saturday announced that he will run in the presidential election.
"I will propose my vision on the country's issues and ways to deal with them during the official announcement ceremony to be organized in the next few days," Boubacar said in a statement.
Boubacar said he will run in the vote as an independent candidate following consultations with a number of political parties, without elaborating.
Boubacar served as a prime minister twice from 1992 to 1996 and from 2005 to 2007.
The National Rally for Reform and Development, an Islamic opposition party, has taken the decision to support Boubacar, a source from the party told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity.
In January, incumbent Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz announced that he would not run in elections, dismissing the notion of constitutional changes to allow him to run for a third term in office.
While a date for the poll has yet to be announced, it is expected sometime before Ould Abdelaziz’s second term expires in June of this year.
