Incumbent Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani has won Mauritania’s presidential election, securing a second term, according to the country’s Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI).

Ghazouani, 67, won 56.12 per cent of the votes in the first round of the presidential poll, well ahead of his main rival, anti-slavery activist Biram Dah Abeid, who won 22.10 per cent, CENI said on Monday.

Ghazouani’s other main rival, Hamadi Ould Sid’ El Moctar, who heads the Tewassoul party, came third with 12.78 per cent, according to CENI.

Saturday’s presidential election had an overall turnout of 55.39 per cent, lower than in 2019.

But opponent Abeid said he would not recognise the results of CENI, which he accused of being manipulated by the government.

Some of Abeid’s supporters demonstrated in the capital Nouakchott late on Sunday, burning tyres and disrupting traffic.

“We did everything we could to prepare the conditions for a good election and we were relatively successful. I congratulate everyone,” CENI chief Dah Ould Abdel Jelil told journalists.

Mauritania re-elects President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani for a second term https://t.co/LewUPAVGc0 pic.twitter.com/natf0Qn77M

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) July 1, 2024

The election victory gives former army chief Ghazouani, 67, a second term as head of the vast desert country, seen as relatively stable in Africa’s volatile Sahel region and set to become a gas producer.

He has presided over a period of relative stability since 2019, as Sahel neighbours, including Mali, struggle with violence with the rise of armed groups that have led to military coups.

Mauritania has not recorded an attack on its soil in recent years and Ghazouani, who currently chairs the African Union, has promised to manage threats from such groups.

Ghazouani has also made helping the young a key priority in a country with a population of 4.9 million, where almost three-quarters of people are under the age of 35.

After a first term hit by the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, the incumbent says he hopes to make more reforms thanks to a favourable economic outlook.

Ghazouani had also pledged to invest in renewable energy and expand gold, uranium and iron-ore mining.