NOUAKCHOTT (AFP) — Mauritania's only Islamist party named its leader, Mohamed Jemil Ould Mansour, on Sunday as its candidate for the July presidential election, the first polls since a military coup last year.
The National Rally for Reform and Development (RNRD) decided to name a candidate instead of backing a single candidate under the Anti-coup Front, said RNRD spokesman Ahmed Ould Wedia.
"The majority of council members took the option of naming its president and keep coordinating with the forces of change," he said.
Jemil Ould Mansour, a 45-year-old lawmaker, becomes the first Islamist candidate since his party was legalised in 2007. He has promoted a tolerant, moderate and democratic Islam that rejects violence.
He has spoken out against the August military coup.
A former leader of the outlawed Islamic Student Organisation, he was imprisoned several times under the regime of Maaouiya Ould Taya, who ruled between 1984-2005.
The army ousted the country's first democratically-elected president, Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, in a coup last August.
The presidential election was originally set for June 6, but the government agreed to hold it on July 18 instead after reaching a deal with the opposition, which had threatened to boycott the vote.
The general who led the coup, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, stepped down as junta chief in April to run for president.
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