UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday commended the people of Mauritania for the peaceful conduct of elections in their country, which saw broad participation of political parties.
In a statement through his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, Guterres encouraged all parties to continue to act in a peaceful manner during and after the announcement of the results.
He further called on political leaders and electoral contestants to resolve disputes through dialogue and in accordance with the law.
On Saturday, about 1.4 million Mauritanians went to the polls for legislative, regional and municipal elections, which would position the West African nation for the presidential vote in 2019.
Some 100 political parties had contesting candidates, with about 5,000 of them running for the National Assembly. The African Union had sent observers to monitor the elections.
