Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya
In 1998 Ould Cheikh Melainine founded the Popular Front. The party centered around a commitment to the establishment of a civil state, access of all political parties to the media, the separation of the Mauritanian state and the Democratic and Social Republican Party of President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, and the creation of a national unity government chaired by the opposition. The front was initially mainly distinguished by its policy of non-participation in elections under the Taya government.