Voting starts after opposition presidential candidate freed

Mauritanians voted for a new president on Friday after a tense campaign which saw the main opposition challenger to President Maaouiya Sid'Ahmed Ould Taya detained by police for several hours on the eve of polling. Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla and four of his supporters were arrested on Thursday afternoon. The state prosecutor said afterwards they would be charged with plotting a coup and threatening state security. However, they were released without explanation four hours later. Haidalla, a former head of state who was overthrown by Ould Taya in a 1984 coup, was greeted by a crowd of several thousand cheering supporters as he returned home. "I don't know why they arrested me and why they released me," the 63-year-old former army colonel said. Ould Haidalla said police tried to question him, but he refused to answer their questions without a lawyer present. Ould Haidalla, who is one of five opposition challengers to Ould Taya, said he believed diplomats based in this vast desert state of only 2.5 million people had intervened to secure his release. "I certainly believe they received external pressure," he told reporters. The whole election could have been declared null and void had Ould Haidalla remained in detention since Mauritania's constitution stipulates that the poll cannot proceed if a candidate is prevented from participating. The polls opened at 0700 GMT and voting appeared to be going smoothly in the capital Nouakchott. People queued to vote early at some polling stations, but there was just a steady trickle of voters at others. The opposition claims that Ould Taya, who is now 63, rigged the two previous presidential elections in 1992 and 1997. Many people told IRIN that despite the introduction of new voting procedures designed to prevent fraud this time round, they feared that the results would be falsified once again to secure him a further six years in power. Opposition parties and civil society groups have been banned from forming an independent watchdog to monitor the poll and the government refused to accredit foreign observers. However, one diplomat said Ould Taya's pro-western government had told his embassy that it would be allowed to "informally" monitor the election. Human rights lawyer Brahim Ould Ebety expressed outrage at the arrest of Ould Haidalla, who is backed by a broad coalition of liberal reformers, Islamic militants and former supporters of Ould Taya. "It is totally ridiculous that a man who is deemed dangerous and charged with crimes should be released four hours later," he said. The other main challengers to the incumbent head of state are Messoud Ould Boulkheir, a member of the Harratin black Moorish community, which once served as slaves to the politically dominant Bidan light-skinned Moors, and Ahmed Ould Daddah, a half-brother of Mauritania's first president, Moktar Ould Daddah. The polls were due to close at 19.00 GMT and election officials said the first results could be declared on Sunday. If no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the votes cast, there will be a second round run-off between the two leading contenders on 21 November.