[Al Arabiya Latest] General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who ousted Mauritania's first democratically elected leader in a coup last year, won the desert nation's presidential election in the first round, the government said late Sunday.Abdel Aziz won 52.6 percent of the vote, Interior Minister Mohamed Ould Rzeizim said, hours after the main opposition candidates rejected the poll as a sham.
Rzeizim said there had been no formal complaints, removing the need for a run off, and Abdel Aziz declared himself president of all Mauritanians. But the result must still be confirmed by Mauritania's Constitutional Court. "This is a victory against poverty and ignorance ... those who say there was fraud should come forward with concrete proof," said Abdel Aziz, who also vowed to tackle terrorism in a country that has seen sporadic attacks by al-Qaeda.