afrol News, 28 May - Mauritian political parties have met a panel of mediators in Dakar today to unravel the current political impasse, just less than 10 days before the presidential polls slated for 6 June.

The talks in Darkar opened up as parties opposing the last August coup are demanding the postponement of the June presidential polls and also threatening to boycott the elections if they go ahead.

Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade who officially opened the meeting called on all parties to reach the consensus, paving the way for a democratic rule in the west African state.

Mauritania has been rocked by political instability since the military junta led by General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz ousted the country's first democratically elected president in August last year.

General Ould Abdel Aziz who was nominated by his junta to contest the polls has since stepped down to run for president in the June polls.

Last week, thousands of Mauritanians marched in the capital Nouakchott in protest against the elections demanding the ruling junta to scrap the elections, and vowing to boycott them saying its results are predetermined.

The march organised by the National Front for the Defence of the Democracy (FNDD) and the Rally for Democratic Forces (RFD) has also demanded the ruling junta to reinstate the ousted president and restore constitutional rule.

President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi who was elected president in 2007, becoming the first democratically elected president since the country gained independence in 1960, served for 15 months before the coup by a group of generals led by Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.

Since the junta took power in the bloodless coup, Mauritania has been slapped with a number of sanctions from both the European Union and the African Union demanding restoration of democratic rule.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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