Tayyar.

Country · MR

MR flag

Mauritania

موريتانيا מאוריטניה

3 parties on file · 1 currently in government

Capital
Nouakchott
Population
4.9M
Independence
1960
Government
Presidential republic
Head of state
President
Head of government
Prime Minister
Electoral system
Presidential republic; National Assembly elections

Independence from France 1960. Multiple military coups. Democratic transition under Ghazouani since 2019; El Insaf currently dominant.

Timeline · 7 events

Region timeline →
2024
  • Confirmed Election held June 29, 2024

    Ghazouani re-elected for second term

    Mohamed Ould Ghazouani was re-elected President of Mauritania on 2024-06-29 for a second five-year term.

2023
  • Confirmed Other May 13, 2023

    El Insaf wins a parliamentary majority in Mauritania's 2023 election

    In the 13 May 2023 National Assembly election (first round; run-off 27 May), the ruling El Insaf (Equity) party, de facto led by President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, won an outright majority — reported at roughly 80 seats directly and about 107–116 of the 176 seats with affiliated/allied lists. It was the first legislative vote since Ghazouani took office in 2019 and consolidated the pro-presidential bloc's control of parliament.

  • Confirmed Election held May 13, 2023

    Tewassoul remains the leading opposition party in 2023

    In the 13 May 2023 election Tewassoul took 9 of the 176 seats (10.2%) — fewer than in 2018 but still the largest of the opposition (which held only 24 seats overall), keeping the Islamist movement as the principal opposition to El Insaf-led pro-government dominance.

Show 4 earlier events (2000–2018)
2018
  • Confirmed Election held September 1, 2018

    Tewassoul becomes the main opposition in the 2018 election

    In the 1 September 2018 legislative election (run-off 15 September), Tewassoul won 14 of 146 seats with 11.3% — second to the ruling UPR and the largest opposition party, confirming the Islamists as the only organized counterweight to the pro-presidential bloc.

2007
  • Confirmed Party formed 2007

    Tewassoul founded as Mauritania's legal Islamist party

    The National Rally for Reform and Development (Tewassoul), the Mauritanian Muslim Brotherhood's legal political vehicle, was founded in 2007 once party formation was permitted. It chose a participationist path, becoming the country's principal organized opposition force.

2006
  • Confirmed Election held November 19, 2006

    UFP wins eight seats in Mauritania's 2006 election

    Running within the Coalition of the Forces of Democratic Change after the 2005 coup that ousted Maaouya Ould Taya, the UFP won eight seats in the November–December 2006 parliamentary election — its strongest showing — establishing Mohamed Ould Maouloud's party as a fixture of the country's left opposition.

2000
  • Confirmed Party formed 2000

    Union of the Forces of Progress takes shape as a Mauritanian left party

    Rooted in the clandestine leftist Kadihine movement of the 1960s–70s, the Union of the Forces of Progress (UFP) emerged from a 1998 split that elected Mohamed Ould Maouloud president and adopted its current name in 2000. A cross-ethnic, republican, social-justice party, it has campaigned against slavery and the persecution of black Mauritanians.

Marquee bills

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Compass · Mauritania

Country mean — Economic -1.3, Social -3.3

-10 -10 -5 -5 5 5 10 10 Libertarian · Statist Libertarian · Market Authority · Statist Authority · Market 1 parties 1 parties 1 parties ← Statist Market → Libertarian ↑ ↓ Authority Social ↕ Economic ↔ El Insaf (Equity Party) (MR) · in government · Economic +2.8, Social -6.0 MR El Insaf (Equity Party) National Rally for Reform and Development (Tewassoul) (MR) · Economic -1.0, Social -8.0 MR National Rally for Reform and Development (Tewassoul) Union of Forces of Progress (MR) · Economic -5.5, Social +4.0 MR Union of Forces of Progress

Ringed dots are parties currently in government. See the full regional compass · hand-coded estimates; methodology.

Current leadership

Parties

Source documents · 6

All docs →

How to cite

Each record carries a retrieval date because the dataset is live — individual entries update as verification deepens. Use the per-record citation when referencing this specific profile; use the dataset citation below when referencing the project as a whole.

In-text: (Gara, 2026)

Per-record citation

APA 7Reference list · academic default 
Gara, T. (2026). Mauritania [Country profile]. Tayyar: A MENA political-position dataset. Retrieved August 6, 2026, from https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/c/MR
Chicago author-dateCommon in political-science journals 
Gara, Tarek. 2026. "Mauritania." Country profile, Tayyar: A MENA political-position dataset. Accessed August 6, 2026. https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/c/MR.
BibTeXFor LaTeX / Zotero / reference managers 
@misc{tayyar-country-mr,
  title     = {{Mauritania}},
  author    = {Gara, Tarek},
  year      = {2026},
  publisher = {Tayyar: A MENA political-position dataset},
  type      = {Country profile},
  url       = {https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/c/MR},
  urldate   = {2026-08-06},
  note      = {First-pass entry; second-pass external review planned before publication.}
}

Dataset / working-paper citation

If you're citing Tayyar as a project rather than this individual record.

APA 7Preprint 
Gara, T. (2026). Tayyar: A MENA political-position dataset [Preprint]. Retrieved August 6, 2026, from https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/paper
BibTeXPreprint 
@unpublished{tayyar-preprint,
  title  = {{Tayyar: A MENA political-position dataset}},
  author = {Gara, Tarek},
  year   = {2026},
  type   = {Preprint},
  url    = {https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/paper},
  urldate = {2026-08-06},
  note   = {Living document, regenerated from the live dataset on page load.}
}

First-pass entry; second-pass external review planned before publication.