The election was contested by four opposition candidates but boycotted by the five-party Opposition Front coalition. All newspapers must register with the Interior Ministry, and submit copy to the Justice and Interior Ministries for censorship. Material that insults Islam or is perceived to threaten national security may be censored. The broadcast media are state-owned. Their coverage is strongly in favour of the government, and opposition access to radio broadcasting is limited.
Citizens can receive foreign television broadcasts, including from France and from Arab countries.
The government continues to deny private applications to establish domestic radio stations. However, it has allowed domestic FM rebroadcasting of Radio France Internationale programming, including news that often covers opposition parties. The press The print media in French and Arabic are quite extensive and relatively free. The Mauritanian News Agency is the official news agency. Television Mauritanian TV broadcasts in Arabic, French and other local languages.