Mauritania's Radical Opposition to Boycott June Vote

Mauritania's radical opposition coalition said Sunday it has decided to boycott next month's presidential election, accusing the nation's rulers of blocking dialogue over how the vote will be run.

The announcement by the spokesman for the National Forum for Democracy and Unity (FNDU) followed a meeting of the coalition on Saturday amid a row over the timing of the June 21 vote and opposition demands for electoral reform.

"All the political parties affiliated to the Forum decided unanimously to boycott this election," said former prime minister Yahya Ould Ahmed Waghf, the FNDU's main negotiator in the dialogue between the opposition and the ruling majority in the northwest African nation.

He said the FNDU's decision was backed by unions and civil society groups which felt they were excluded from the election process "which is neither consensual nor transparent."

In a widely expected announcement last month, Mauritanian leader Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz said he would be running for re-election.

Abdel Aziz, a former army general who took power in a coup in August 2008, was elected the following year for a five-year term.

Candidates have until May 7 to file applications to run for president, and campaigning will take place between June 6 and June 19.

The FNDU combines the Islamist movement Tewassoul and 10 parties allied in the Coordination for a Democratic Opposition, which boycotted parliamentary and municipal elections last year.