Centuries of slavery have left an indelible mark on the political map, and a diabolical stigma on the political nuances in Mauritania. Since independence from France in 1960, the Mauritanian authorities, successive governments both military and civilian, have stubbornly refused to admit that in spite of several presidential decrees to ban slavery, the heinous practice survives. Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel-Aziz grips his ruling party tight. Across the border in Mali, President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita rules the country with a chickenhearted criteria, relying on French troops to prop up his shaky administration. Mauritania and Mali are neighbours, the former a member of the Arab League, the latter — even though predominately Muslim like Mauritania — is not. Both are members of the African Union, and both are former French colonies. Legislative elections in Mali and Mauritania this week have brought critical issues to the fore. Both Sahelian countries are battling against militant Islamist terrorists. Mauritania has been able to contain the Islamists better than Mali. However, both states must now pursue policies towards the militant Islamist militias that need an urgent rethink. Is Mauritania, then, functionally democratic? The ruling party, the Union for the Republic, is a moderately Islamist movement. No political party in Mauritania can seriously claim not to be Islamist, whatever strand, whatever strain. The controversy over the Islamist agenda has cast a shadow over this week's legislative elections in Mauritania. A total of 1,096 candidates have registered to compete for the leadership of 218 local councils across Mauritania, whilst 438 candidates are contesting for the 147 parliamentary seats. For the first time in the country's history, several women are contesting, including a pop-star. The Advocacy Initiatives Group for Women's Political Participation (Groupes des Initiatives de Plaidoyer pour la Participation Politique des Femmes, GI3PF), a non-partisan organisation comprising women from all walks of life, is committed to encouraging women's participation in Mauritanian politics at the local and national levels. “The responsible woman is she who makes her voice heard,” Lilla Aicha Sy, a spokeswoman of the group, told reporters in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott. In Mali, a paltry number of the electorate turned out to vote. Polling stations were avoided, especially in the northern region of the sprawling Sahelian and Saharan nation precisely because they feared terrorist attacks by militant Islamist groups affiliated to Al-Qaeda. Some 1.2 million Mauritanians are eligible to vote in the election. In neighbouring Mali, a total of 6.5 million people are registered to take part in the first round of elections to choose a parliament. Next door in Mali in July 2013, gunmen have abducted two election officials a week before the presidential elections, the first since the military coup in 2012. Obviously the security situation in Mali is far more volatile than that in Mauritania. Yet, rising participation in both Mali and Mauritania in the decision-making process is welcome only if the benefits justify the cost. Mali's crisis began early in 2012 when secessionist Tuareg militias, acting in alliance with Islamist groups linked to Al-Qaeda, swept across the northern wastes of the vast Saharan country, forcing 500,000 people to flee their homes. Malian politicians plead that the world must give their country a chance to demonstrate its democratic credentials. But, they stress that they need French military peacekeepers. In March 2012, President Amadou Toumani Toure was ousted in a coup, ostensibly staged by junior officers in protest at the Malian military's lack of resources to fight the rebels. The political climate in Mauritania is unstable. However, the security situation in Mali is untenable. The militant Islamist terrorists in Mali intensified their campaign and controlled two thirds of the rambled West African country by January 2013 when France sent 4,500 troops to oust the Al-Qaeda affiliates. Malian public policy needs to avoid promoting fruitless study. The government of Mali and separatist militias signed a peace agreement in June, paving the way for the August presidential and the current parliamentary elections. Mali held a peaceful presidential election in August, but since then there has been a surge in violence. And, the current legislative elections were conducted smoothly. Yet, an abundance of evidence contradicts this hypothesis. Indeed, last Thursday, the northern city of Gao came under rocket attack by militant Islamist militias. In Mauritania, the opposition coalition Tewassoul has described its participation as a struggle against what it deems the dictatorship of President Abdel-Aziz. Moreover, the party's president Mohamed Jemil Ould Mansour has called for a huge turnout by Tewassoul supporters. Legislative elections in both Mali and Mauritania are among the most engrossing in Africa. Consequently, in Mali there are too many courses of questionable value. Yet as a curious contest of ideas, or a deeper debate about the type of country Mali wants to become. This political hullabaloo ended with the 2008 coup d'état, and while the Mauritanian National Assembly continued to convene meetings, its powers were restricted. Yet the horizons of young Malians and Mauritanians will not be widened by pushing Western-style democracy. The 11 party opposition alliance known as the Coordination of the Democratic Opposition (COD) vowed to boycott the election unless the president steps down beforehand. A total of 1,096 candidates have registered to compete for the leadership of 218 local councils across Mauritania, whilst 438 candidates are contesting for the 147 parliamentary seats. Some 1.2 million Mauritanians are eligible to vote in the current elections. In Mauritania the line-up of political luminaries is especially eye-catching, features a clutch of Moorish billionaire tycoons. The COD's boycott has been criticised by the ruling UPR, with Ould Mohamed Lemine saying such action was unjustifiable “in view of the political and electoral reforms accomplished”. For all that, it is worth noting that the Muslim Brotherhood has made serious inroads in Saharan and Sahelian politics, including Mali and Mauritania. The UPR has also criticised Tewassoul for its links to the Muslim Brotherhood, and has called for the movement to dissociate itself from Islamists elsewhere in the region. This broader point is made. Interim Malian Prime Minister Django Sissoko visited Gao in northern Mali for the first time since the French intervention and militant Islamist and Amazigh separatists' takeover in April 2013. He announced that the election will take place in July and the preparations were under way. However, unnamed analysts suggested a botched election could lead to further unrest. It was later decided to hold the legislative elections few months after the presidential polls. Northern Mali's Azawad region, home to several separatist and militant Islamist terrorist groups, is in turmoil and voting has been very difficult as the electorate fear to venture near the polling stations. Three weeks ago two French journalists, Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon, were killed in Kidal, in an attack claimed by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. The United Nations force in Mali, MINUSMA, has delivered election materials. Regional and international election observers said before the vote that everything was in place for a credible parliamentary election and that they expected to have access to 90 per cent of Mali's polling stations. Nevertheless, in the far northern Saharan towns of Kidal and Tessalit, only the party of Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita features on ballot papers. Its other weakness is that these electoral complications do not quite add up to a coherent analysis of Mali's political future. Malian opposition candidates say it has been too dangerous to campaign in the northern reaches of the country. There are crucial issues that must be ironed out such as the slow pursuit of justice for Mauritania's slaves and freed slaves. The manumission of slaves is a contentious subject in Mauritania. But alas, it did not feature in this week's legislative elections.
