The polls are open in Ohio. Wednesday was the first day for early voting and so far hundreds of people have cast their ballots in Toledo.

Lucas County Board of Elections says more than 630 people cast their ballots by 2:30 Wednesday afternoon. Deputy Director LaVera Scott says, "When we opened we had 50 people, close to 50 people outside, waiting to come in and vote. And it's just been consistent all day."

Voters say it's a historic election and they're encouraged by the turnout they saw at the poll.

"This year, I have absolutely no doubts and I'm eager to get on the record supporting my candidates," says voter Paula Ross. Voter Sherry Gilbert says, "I've never felt so much drive to go out and vote before. I've voted, but I've never had that drive before."

The Board of Elections says absentee ballots are also now going out and it's important to request one now, if you need one.

"Want to ask people not to wait til the last moment because we want to make sure we have time to get the ballot mailed to them and for them to get the ballot mailed back to us," says Scott.

Absentee ballots must be back to the board of elections by November 8th.

Click here to see the calendar for Early Vote Center Hours.



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Copyright 2016 WTOL. All rights reserved. </s> It was closer than they expected, but it was what they were looking for.

The majority of voters in Tuesday’s referendum question opted to keep the current first-past-the-post system.

John Barrett of the No side said that was the goal.

“I was perhaps a little surprised that it was as close as it was, but at the end of the day, I think that our side prevailed in a fair and square manner,” Barrett told The Guardian Wednesday.

A referendum vote calling for electoral reform was held along with the provincial general election April 23, where voters received two ballots – one to vote for the candidate of their choice and the other to vote on whether they’d like to see electoral reform.

Unofficial results from Elections P.E.I. showed 51 per cent of voters chose to maintain the status quo, while 49 per cent voted for a mixed member proportional (MMP) system.

The referendum threshold was set at 50 per cent plus one of voters in 60 per cent of the districts to be declared the winner, which meant that in order for the Yes side to be honoured, it had to win 17 districts.

The results showed the Yes side took 15 districts, while the No side took 12.

Barrett said he wasn’t surprised by the districts that voted to keep the status quo.

“I assumed that rural Prince Edward Island would be strong No supporters and that the urban areas not as much,” he said. “We were hopeful, and to a certain degree confident, that we would carry the day.”

In an interview Tuesday, a representative from the Yes side said the fight for electoral reform wasn’t over.

Barrett said if further change was suggested, those with similar opinions to the No side would look to see if the proposed change is a good idea or not and said the No side isn’t opposed to electoral reform, just to MMP.

“There’s a lengthy list of issues that we have with MMP, and that’s why we stepped up and spent the time that we did trying to convince the general public of the same.”

Barrett said having the referendum alongside the election was a good idea and said there was enough time for both sides of the question to get their message out to the public.

RELATED </s> Afghans are bracing for more deadly violence on Saturday as voters turn out for the long-delayed legislative election across the war-torn country that the Taliban has vowed to attack.

Some 54,000 security forces have been deployed to protect polling centres, which open at 7:00 am, but there are concerns the killing of a powerful police chief on Thursday will scare off many voters.

Voting has been delayed in the southern province of Kandahar after a Taliban-claimed attack on a US-Afghan security meeting that killed three people, including General Abdul Raziq.

General Scott Miller, the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, escaped injury in the shooting, but 13 others were wounded.

Almost nine million people have registered to vote in the parliamentary election, which is more than three years late and only the third since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

But the threat of militant attacks and expectations for massive fraud are expected to deter many voters from showing up at the more than 5,000 polling centres.

In the days leading up to the poll, the Taliban has issued several statements urging candidates to withdraw and voters to boycott what the group calls a "malicious American conspiracy".

Shambolic preparations for the ballot have been made worse by a wave of poll-related violence that has left hundreds dead or wounded.

At least 10 candidates out of more than 2,500 contesting the lower-house election have been killed so far.

The most recent victim was Abdul Jabar Qahraman, who was blown up Wednesday by a bomb placed under his sofa in the southern province of Helmand.

Most of the candidates are political novices and include doctors, mullahs and journalists. Those with the deepest pockets are expected to win.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, which has spearheaded international efforts to keep Afghan election organisers on track, on Friday urged voters to "exercise their constitutional right to vote".

The poll is seen as a crucial test for next year's presidential election and an important milestone ahead of a UN meeting in Geneva in November where Afghanistan is under pressure to show progress on "democratic processes".

But the eleventh hour introduction of biometric voter verification machines, which have never been used in an Afghan election, threatens to derail the process.

Observers are concerned the results could be thrown into turmoil if the devices are broken, lost or destroyed.

There are also fears the data could be manipulated before preliminary results are released on November 10.

Votes cast without the controversial machines will not be counted, the Independent Election Commission has said, even though polling centre workers have received little or no training in how to use them. </s> CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian officials were counting votes on Thursday after an election set to hand President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi a second term following a crackdown on dissent that removed serious challengers.

As ballots are tallied for official results due on April 2, the focus will be on final turnout since Sisi faced no credible opposition. Critics say the contest recalled the kind of vote that kept Arab autocrats in power for decades before the 2011 Arab Spring.

The former military commander overthrew Islamist Mohamed Mursi, Egypt’s first freely-elected president, during turmoil in 2013 that followed a popular uprising two years earlier.

Sisi was first elected in 2014 with 97 percent of the vote, but with a modest turnout of about 47 percent.

Authorities have been desperate to ensure a higher turnout this time around as Sisi sees attendance at polls as a referendum on his popularity and seeks a strong mandate to fight militants and push through tough economic reforms.

Preliminary results showed Sisi is leading with 21.5 million votes, state-owned newspaper Akhbar el-Youm reported, a tally that would give him about a third of eligible voters.

State-run media trumpeted Sisi’s victory early on Thursday, predicting a “big turnout”, and radio programmes said that most of the voters were from Egypt’s fast-growing youth.

“The people have chosen their president”, the front page of state-run daily al-Ahram said.

Early indications from sources monitoring the vote, however, suggested turnout could be lower than in the 2014 election.

On the first two days of voting, turnout was about 21 percent, two sources monitoring the election said, and a Western diplomat said that late on Tuesday it was between 15 and 20 percent.

The two sources said late on Wednesday the turnout figure could be less than 40 percent.

Sisi was expected to win more than 90 percent of the vote, while it appeared that more people spoiled their ballots than voted for Sisi’s sole challenger Moussa Mostafa Moussa, who has widely been dismissed as a dummy candidate.

“All preliminary reports suggest that turnout is down compared to 2014 despite all the efforts that have been made to raise the numbers,” Timothy Kaldas, non-resident fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, said.

“But it’s not clear what consequence the turnout will really have on a government that doesn’t appear to believe the people should have a say in who rules them to begin with,” he said.

Egyptian authorities and media outlets have tried to garner as many votes as possible, telling voters it is their duty, and portraying a failure to vote as betrayal of their country.

Other tactics have also been deployed, with some voters saying they were paid and given other incentives to cast their ballots.

All serious opposition dropped out the election race earlier this year citing intimidation after the main challenger, another former military chief, was arrested. Egypt’s election commission said the vote would be free and fair, and Sisi said he wished more candidates had run.

Sisi’s presidency has returned the military to power after turmoil following the 2011 uprising that toppled long-time leader Hosni Mubarak. </s> Egyptian authorities have warned people to vote or risk paying a fine, as they look to boost turnout in a lackluster election that is virtually guaranteed to hand President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi a second four-year term.

El-Sissi faces only a token opponent in the vote, which resembles the referendums held by autocrats for decades before the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011 briefly raised hopes of democratic change.

Serious challengers were forced out or arrested, including former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, who showed up late Tuesday at a polling center to cast his ballot. It was his first public appearance since he announced his intention to run in December from the United Arab Emirates, where he had gone after narrowly losing the 2012 election to the Islamist Mohammed Morsi.

The UAE deported Shafiq after the announcement, and he was met at the Cairo airport by unidentified security men who escorted him to a hotel on the city's outskirts. He decided against running soon thereafter. On Tuesday, he told reporters that voting was a "national duty," without elaborating.

The government is hoping for high turnout to lend the election legitimacy, and has staggered the voting over three days, with polls closing Wednesday at 9 p.m. (1900 GMT). Official results are expected on April 2.

The National Election Authority said in a statement Wednesday it will enforce a law penalizing boycotters with a fine of around $30. Similar warnings have been issued in previous elections, with no real enforcement.

Nearly 60 million Egyptians are eligible to vote at some 13,700 polling centers.

Turnout appears to be low so far, with short lines in front of some polling stations and others virtually empty. El-Sissi's only opponent is Moussa Mustafa Moussa, a little-known politician who supports the president and made no effort to campaign against him.

Local media, which are dominated by pro-government commentators, have urged people to come out and vote, saying they have a national obligation to resist foreign plots aimed at sowing discord. Groups of loyalists can be seen clapping and dancing in front of some polling stations, as patriotic music plays from loudspeakers.

Outside a polling station in Cairo's Manial neighborhood, about two dozen voters, mainly older people, lined up in front of the gates shortly before polls opened.

"I am here because I need security and stability," said 44-year-old government employee Amina el-Sayed. She said her manager gave her and her colleagues a day off to vote.

Sayada Fathi, a 62-year-old voter, said she wasn't bothered by the lack of competition.

"Our beloved el-Sissi will win easily," she said.

In Cairo's heavily populated, working-class district of Shubra, a trickle of voters, mainly older women, could be seen outside two polling stations.

Judges supervising the polling centers said that out of 7,800 registered voters, some 3,000 cast ballots, or around 38 percent.

In a nearby polling center the turnout reached 34 percent, according to figures provided by the judges.

El-Sissi won 96.9 percent of the vote in 2014, with official turnout of more than 47 percent.

Saadia Ali, a housewife and mother of five, said she came because she hopes things get better. "Just tell them that our houses are collapsing and on my street they are not doing anything to fix it.

"Why didn't they have more than one candidate?" she asked, after casting her vote.

At Saleh Hamad school in Shubra, only 3,500 of 12,000 eligible voters cast their votes by midday, or about 29 percent, polling judges there said. Christians make up a large portion of voters in the district. They constitute around 10 percent of Egypt's predominantly Muslim population.

Father Marcus Ibrahim, a Coptic Christian priest who brought his son with him, said the church told worshippers to go and vote without supporting a certain candidate.

"This is the only way for change. It's slow but it will happen as long as we keep participating. I brought my son and told him to sign the ballot and drop it in the box so he gets used to it.

"If there were more than one strong candidate, it would have been different for sure," he said. </s> In the plenum joint meeting of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, which will be held today starting at 14:00, will be debated and put up for vote the vote of no-confidence against the government submitted by 152 members of the opposition.

 The document which incriminates the failures of the Dăncilă government has been read in the Parliament on Monday, June 25th. 

 Called "The dismissal of the Dragnea-Dăncilă government, a national emergency!", the vote of no-confidence includes mentions to the rise of inflation, the rise of the ROBOR, the aberrant measures taken by the Executive concerning the definitive change of the fiscal legislation, the lack of investments in infrastructure, the assault on the judicial system, on the second pension pillar and the wage-raising policy.

 To have the motion pass and to bring down the government, the opposition needs 233 votes. So far, calculations show that it lacks over 60 votes.

 Over the last few days, the representatives of the PNL and USR have carried out intense negotiations with the leaders of the UDMR and Pro România.

 If the heads of the UDMR play hard to get, the opposition has received positive signals from the party led by Victor Ponta and Daniel Constantin. Of course, after the liberals have issued assurances that should the vote of no-confidence be successful, Ludovic Orban will not require his nomination as prime-minister.

 Nevertheless, if the opposition didn't get massive support from the UDMR and from national minorities represented in the Parliament, as well as from many PSD members unhappy with the direction the country is going, the vote of no-confidence has slim chances of passing. The minorities and the UDMR, if it were to vote en masse in favor of the motion, would only bring 47 votes to the opposition, which would not be enough to bring the government down.

 UDMR president Kelemen Hunor, yesterday said that only today, after the common session of the joint groups would the MPs of the Union make a decision when it comes to a potential support of the vote of no-confidence submitted by the PNL, USR and PMP.

 The UDMR president said: "Wednesday morning, at 9:00, we will have the joint session of the reunited groups. There, we will make a formal decision concerning the vote of no-confidence, but until then we are going to be talking to our colleagues. We will see what happens, but the decision will be made on Wednesday".

 The UDMR leader has also discussed the manner in which the government can be replaced, adding: "If there is a majority for a certain direction, we will comply with it. No motion that ever passed brought anything worse. 

 As long as a government has the majority, it stays on. When it doesn't, it leaves. I'm not the one ensuring the majority of the Government. At this time, it's the PSD and ALDE that ensure the majority of the Government (...) Since they have the majority, they no longer need our support".

 The UDMR leader yesterday met with the head of the PNL, Ludovic Orban. According to the calculations of the two, a maximum of 194-195 MPS would vote in favor of the vote of no-confidence.

 Kelemen Hunor concluded: "There are many more votes needed to get the needed number of 233. Currently, the opposition, perhaps with some of the minorities, has no chance of bringing down the Government. Without the PSD, without ALDE, without breaking the coalition apart, it can't be brought down, regardless of what anybody may say, because the numbers don't lie. The numbers are really simple and it's extremely easy to perform a simple calculation".

 * Fight in the Parliament spilling into the streets?

 In order to pressure both the MPs of the governing coalition, as well as those of the opposition, the supporters of the two sides have announced their presence today in front of the Parliament's Palace. Initially, the USR and the PNL called for their supporters to protest in front of the Parliament to determine the passing of the vote of no-confidence. But yesterday social-democrat senator Claudiu Manda said that PSD sympathizers will be standing at the entrance located near the Izvor park to support the Dăncilă government.

 Claudiu Manda said: "There are two alternatives, either we can compare their numbers, or things can reach a conflict. But what we are seeing happening today, including at the level of the Parliament, may make the protesters continue to want this kind of actions".

 According to some PSD sources quoted by g4media.ro, the county branches have received a directive asking them to each send 15 today to Bucharest. Those supporters would travel with their own vehicles and should not be public sector employees nor high profile leaders.

 Should the vote of no-confidence pass, the PNL seems willing to negotiate with anybody. According to the things stated two days ago by PNL president Ludovic Orban, the liberals are open to negotiate with "all the civilized, decent political forces, that want the good of Romania, in order to bring Romania back to its natural, Euro-Atlantic path, which honors the fundamental values and principles that underlie the functioning of the EU".

 Moreover, the head of the PNL is asking voters and sympathizers of the party to come as many as possible in front of the Parliament's building, on the occasion of the debate and voting of the motion.

 The USR has also launched a Facebook campaign urging people to take one day off from work, in order to participate in the protests of the entrance near the Izvor park.

 Also scheduled today in the Chamber of Deputies is the voting of the simple motion of no-confidence against Lucian Şova, the former minister of Transportation. PNL, USR and PMP MPs accuse Şova of mismanaging the Romanian infrastructure and failing to produce any projects to concerning the construction of highways, the rehabilitation and modernization of roads, bridges and railways.

 Yesterday, after the closing of this edition, the leaders of the opposition were planning to go to the Victoriei Square, to ask for the support of those who have been protesting for over 510 days against the PSD-ALDE coalition. </s> The Florida secretary of state has officially ordered a recount in the U.S. Senate and governor races, an unprecedented review of two major races in the state that took five weeks to decide the 2000 presidential election.

Secretary Ken Detzner issued the order on Saturday after the unofficial results in both races fell within the margin that by law triggers a recount.

The unofficial results show that Republican former U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis led Democratic Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum by .41 percentage points.

In the Senate race, Republican Gov. Rick Scott's leads over Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson by .15 percentage points.

Detzner also ordered a recount for Florida's Agriculture Commissioner race where Democratic Nikki Fried stands .06 percentage points above Republican Matt Caldwell.

All three races will undergo machine recounts with results due no later than 3pm on Thursday November 15 to the Florida Department of State.

If the vote is too close to call yet again by falling within a 0.25 margin or less, the three races will advance to hand recounts, due to be completed by November 18.

County elections supervisors had until noon Saturday to submit results.

President Donald Trump - who campaigned for both Scott and DeSantis - said that the recounts are a Democrat ploy to steal the election.

'Trying to STEAL two big elections in Florida! We are watching closely!' the president tweeted on Saturday.

Scott called for his opponent DeSantis to decline the recount.

'It's time for Senator Nelson to accept reality and spare the state of the Florida the time, expense and discord of a recount,' Scott's spokesman Chris Hartline said.

Nelson responded saying he does not intend to back down.

'We have every expectation the recount will be full and fair and will continue taking action to ensure every vote is counted without interference or efforts to undermine the democratic process. We believe when every legal ballot is counted we'll win this election,' he said in a statement.

All the while protesters rallied outside the offices of the Broward County Supervisor of Elections in Lauderhill on Saturday where the final counts were made ahead of the noon deadline.

The announcement was made after Broward County election monitors said they saw no evidence of criminal activity in Tuesday's midterm election, despite the county being run by a controversial supervisor who mixed in illegal votes and failed to reveal the number of uncounted votes.

'Our staff has seen no evidence of criminal activity at this time,' Sarah Revell, spokesperson for the state Department of Elections, said to the Miami Herald on Saturday morning.

Following Tuesday's election, Rick Scott filed a lawsuit against Broward County and Palm Beach County, accusing Democrats of trying to steal the election on Thursday evening. He asked for Snipes to turn over several records detailing the counting and collection of ballots.

Snipes has been accused of 'fraud' in how she handled counting ballots in the election by Scott, President Donald Trump, and Republicans. She has a long history of controversies when it comes to vote counting.

She agreed to present 205 provisional ballots to Broward County's canvassing board for inspection, and the board declared on Friday that 20 of the 205 provisional ballots were illegal due to mismatched signatures.

They were set aside then counted in a voting machine, but the results were not added to the election's final total vote count.

On Friday the county didn't know how to move forward with the invalid ballots.

'We have found no clear authority controlling the situation faced by the board,' Broward County Attorney Andrew Meyers said.

Broward County collected more than 600 provisional ballots on Election Day, but majority were deemed invalid by the board for reasons including late registration or voting in the wrong precinct.

Since the election two Department of Elections have been stationed in Broward County to oversee see the administration of the elections, visit polling stations and 'ensure all laws are followed'.

In May Florida's Secretary of State announced increased oversight after a court found Broward Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes broke the law by authorizing the premature destruction of ballots pertaining to a contested race following the 2016 elections.

On Saturday Broward official hit back at fraud allegations in a news conference after the ballot tally.

'There have been allegation of fraud. Those are serious charges to recklessly offer out there. To give a claim of fraud without any evidence, I think it unacceptable,' Eugene Pettis, a lawyer for Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes said. </s> Serious challengers were forced out or arrested, including former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, who showed up late Tuesday at a polling centre to cast his ballot. It was his first public appearance since he announced his intention to run in December from the United Arab Emirates, where he had gone after narrowly losing the 2012 election to the Islamist Mohammed Morsi.

El-Sissi faces only a token opponent in the vote, which resembles the referendums held by autocrats for decades before the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011 briefly raised hopes of democratic change.

CAIRO—Egyptian election authorities have warned people to vote or risk paying a fine, as they look to boost turnout in a lacklustre election that is virtually guaranteed to hand President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi a second four-year term.

The government is hoping for high turnout to lend the election legitimacy, and has staggered the voting over three days, with polls closing Wednesday at 9 p.m.. Official results are expected on April 2.

The UAE deported Shafiq after the announcement, and he was met at the Cairo airport by unidentified security men who escorted him to a hotel on the city’s outskirts. He decided against running soon thereafter. On Tuesday, he told reporters that voting was a “national duty,” without elaborating.

The National Election Authority said in a statement Wednesday it will enforce a law penalizing boycotters with a fine of around $30 (U.S.). Similar warnings have been issued in previous elections, with no real enforcement.

Nearly 60 million Egyptians are eligible to vote at some 13,700 polling centres. El-Sissi won 96.9 per cent of the vote in 2014, with an official turnout of more than 47 per cent. In the 2012 election, which witnessed heightened competition between Islamists and opponents, turnout reached 52 per cent.

In the polling centres this year, turnout appeared low over the first two days of voting then started to gain momentum by midday Wednesday, with short lines in front of some polling stations. El-Sissi’s only opponent is Moussa Mustafa Moussa, a little-known politician who supports the president and made no effort to campaign against him.

Mahmoud el-Sherif, the spokesperson of the election commission, said Wednesday at a press conference that the highest turnout was in Cairo, the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, and in northern Sinai, the epicenter of an insurgency by Islamic militants.

In Cairo’s heavily populated, middle-class district of Shubra, a trickle of voters, mainly older women, could be seen outside two polling stations. Judges supervising the polling centres said that of 7,800 registered voters, some 3,000 cast ballots, or around 38 per cent. In a nearby polling centre the turnout reached 34 per cent, according to figures provided by the judges.

Saadia Ali, a housewife and mother of five, said she came because she hopes things get better. “Just tell them that our houses are collapsing and on my street they are not doing anything to fix it,” she said.

Some el-Sissi supporters are suggesting that he should consider amending the constitution to remain president for life.

Ashraf Ahmed, a 50-year-old ceramic sculptor, said while smoking shisha in a cafe: “I have only one wish and if accomplished, I will be very happy. I wish that the next step is to change the constitution so he can run for a third, forth, fifth and forever.”

El-Sissi has said that he is not in favour of amending constitutional provisions barring the president from staying in office beyond two, four-year-terms. Several pro-government lawmakers and media figures promoted the proposed amendments to allow el-Sissi to stay in office beyond eight years.

At Saleh Hamad school in Shubra, at least 3,500 of 12,000 eligible voters cast their votes by midday, or about 29 per cent, polling judges there said. Christians, strong supporters of el-Sissi for challenging Islamists, make up a large portion of voters in the district. They constitute around 10 per cent of Egypt’s predominantly Muslim population.

Father Marcus Ibrahim, a Coptic Christian priest who brought his son with him, said the church told worshippers to go and vote without supporting a certain candidate.

“This is the only way for change. It’s slow but it will happen as long as we keep participating. I brought my son and told him to sign the ballot and drop it in the box so he gets used to it.

Local media, which are dominated by pro-government commentators, have urged people to come out and vote, saying they have a national obligation to resist foreign plots aimed at sowing discord. Groups of loyalists can be seen clapping and dancing in front of some polling stations, as patriotic music plays from loudspeakers.

Outside a polling station in Cairo’s Manial neighbourhood, about two dozen voters, mainly older people, lined up in front of the gates shortly before polls opened.

Sayada Fathi, a 62-year-old voter, said she wasn’t bothered by the lack of competition.

“Our beloved el-Sissi will win easily,” she said. </s> NOUAKCHOTT - Mauritanian voters went to the polls Saturday in the country’s first election without an incumbent presidential candidate since the 2008 coup.

Polling stations closed at 7 p.m. across the Sahara Desert nation, and preliminary results are expected late in the evening.

Though voters were mobilized for these elections, seen as significant in the country’s democratic history, many are wary that the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), which earlier this year refused appeals to employ foreign observers, may not hold fair elections.

American embassy staff were among those in Nouakchott surveying polling stations across the capital.

“We’ve got 10 teams who have been out ever since the polls opened at 7 this morning, doing observations in various polling stations throughout the city,” U.S. Ambassador to Mauritania Michael Dodman told VOA.

“We’ll wait and see what the results are, we’ll wait and see what the experts … have to say. And we just hope that it all moves forward peacefully, quickly, and that this transfer of power really is a positive step for Mauritanian democracy,” he added.

Along with American embassy staff, local observers went to polling stations across the capital Saturday.

Local lawyer Fatimata M’Baye told VOA that she noticed some irregularities, namely that some voters were turned away and were told they needed to provide their voter registration number and not just an identification. M’Baye says that these numbers are only available online, and some people were unable to retrieve them in time to vote.

“I think these are questions that should have been addressed before election day,” M’Baye said, adding that she thinks the issue is more negligence by the CENI as opposed to obstruction.

“I think that in the future, the CENI needs to be much better prepared to allow the Mauritanian people to vote in peace,” she said.

According to a Gallup poll, 64% of Mauritanians do not have faith in the honesty of the elections.

When asked who they believe will win the election, many voters VOA spoke with in Nouakchott preceded their answer with “If the state doesn’t cheat. ..."

President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz is stepping down, as is mandated by the constitution, after his two five-year terms. His ruling Union for the Republic (UPR) party has put forth former Defense Minister Mohamed Ould Ghazouani as its candidate.

Opposition candidates say that Ghazouani would not affect any change from the last administration -- change they say is desperately needed.

“I think there needs to be a true changeover, because the state today of my country is catastrophic. The economic situation is extremely serious, as are our societal problems,” Sidi Mohammed Ould Boubacar, a former prime minister and leading opposition candidate supported by the Tewassoul party, told VOA.

Boubacar is one of five opposition candidates running to replace the UPR. Other candidates include well-known anti-slavery activist Biram Dah Abeid, who has promised a national inquiry into the country’s cases of modern slavery.

The country’s last elections in 2014 were heavily criticized for being unfair and were boycotted by many opposition parties. Then-incumbent President Aziz won by 84%.

Mauritania has had five military coups since it gained independence from France in 1960.
The unofficial results suggest the No vote is in the lead, and only a 40% voter turnout. Official results will be released Friday, November 16.