Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya
At a press conference on 30 July, Vall said that the election was merely a means of legitimizing the 2008 coup and that it had effectively reverted the country to the authoritarianism it had experienced under President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, who Vall and Abdel Aziz ousted in 2005. He also said that he would continue to struggle against Abdel Aziz's regime.