Biram Dah Abeid<\/a><\/span><\/span> with 22%, while Hamadi Sidi el-Mokhtar of the Islamist Tewassoul party came third with 13%.<\/p>\nAnalysts had expected him to win the election in the first round.<\/p>\n
The president, a former army chief, is credited with establishing stability since his first election five years ago, after decades of political unrest and frequent coups.<\/p>\n
He has been allies with Western partners such as France and the US, but has also kept ties with junta-led neighbours including Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, which have pivoted towards Russia in recent years.<\/p>\n
Mauritania has largely avoided the Islamist insurgencies affecting neighbouring Sahel states.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, Mr Abeid said he would not recognise the results, calling it an \u201celectoral coup\u201d.<\/p>\n
“We’ll not accept these results from the so-called independent electoral commission. We’ll use our own electoral commission to proclaim the results,” the AFP news agency quoted him as telling journalists.<\/p>\n
Mr Abeid, whose grandparents were slaves and has spent much of his life campaigning against the practice in the country, was vying for presidency for the third time.<\/p>\n
He emerged second in the 2019 elections also won by Mr Ghazouani.<\/p>\n
He and other opposition candidates alleged irregularities in that election, which led to small-scale protests.<\/p>\n
Before this year\u2019s election, the third-place candidate, Mr Mokhtar, warned that his party would not accept the results if it suspected rigging, the AFP news agency reports.<\/p>\n
The turnout for the election was about 55%, according to the electoral website.<\/p>\n