NOUAKCHOTT - The leader of Mauritania's biggest opposition party Ahmed Ould Daddah will run for president in the July 18 elections to be held nearly one year after a coup, his party announced Tuesday.
"The special congress of the Union of Democratic Forces (RFD) has decided to declare Ahmed Ould Daddah as candidate for the presidential elections," a party spokesman announced at the congress.
This is the fourth time Ould Daddah, 66, will try his luck in a presidential election. In 1992 and 2003 he lost to veteran leader Maaouiya Ould Taya, who was in power from 1984 until 2005.
In Mauritania's first democratic elections, held in 2007, the opposition leader lost in the second round against Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, who was ousted in a coup in August last year.
Ould Daddah is one of the favourites to win the election alongside the coup's leader, general Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who stepped down as junta chief in April to run in the election.
Another former junta chief, Ely Ould Mohamed Vall who ruled the country between 2005 and 2007, is also considered a contender.
Following the August coup, Ould Daddah initially supported the junta in power but later turned on Ould Abdel Aziz and announced a boycott of the presidential elections, which were originally set for June 6.
The elections were delayed at the last minute after marathon talks led by international mediators hammered out an agreement between the opposition parties boycotting the vote and the junta.
The deal means that all major parties will now run candidates in the elections.
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