2024 Presidential Elections: Candidate Mohamed Lemine El Mourteji El Wavi Holds News Conference in Nouakchott

The 2024 presidential candidate, Mohamed Lemine El Mourtaji El Wafi, said that “the state is today controlled by a group of businessmen who are the cause of all the ruin”, stating that if he is elected president, he will ban businessmen from engaging in politics. During a news conference held on 21 June in Nouakchott, he explained that businessmen who are involved in politics escape the payment of taxes and customs duties, while weak and ordinary citizens are forced to pay taxes, believing that businessmen should contribute to supporting the national economy, create employment opportunities for young people, pay taxes, and take care of their own business. He added that if elected, he would grant tax exemptions to business creators and small business owners, open a new page that leaves no room for the corrupters, and favor the weakest in society.

“Corruption has spread throughout all state apparatus, and it must be eradicated,” said candidate Mohamed Lemine El Mourtaji El Wafi.

“Appointments to positions are made in a non-transparent manner,” he said, noting that in ministerial departments, those who do not have the slightest right to hold this position are appointed at the expense of skills and energies capable of bringing development and progress in their field.

In this context, he stressed that a civil servant has the full right to be appointed even if he is an opponent, calling for the distinction between political and professional positions.

During the news conference, the candidate thanked the inhabitants of the wilayas he visited, explaining that “citizens now consider that politicians are not sincere in their promises and that their only concern is to collect votes at all costs”.

“The political arena has been distorted by the politicians themselves, who have lost all credibility in their promises by manipulating citizens to achieve narrow political goals,” he said.

“Citizens have lost hope for change and are afraid of the electoral bodies and the Independent National Electoral Commission,” he said, stressing that corruption can be fought, but it is the frustration of the citizens that cannot be solved.

The candidate stressed that time would distinguish between those who wanted votes by manipulating citizens and making empty promises and those who cared about the public interest and transparency.