2023 Mauritanian regional elections

Regional elections were held in Mauritania on 13 May 2023, alongside parliamentary and local elections.

The elections were the first regional elections held after the first peaceful transition of power in the country as a result of the 2019 presidential elections, in which Mohamed Ould Ghazouani was elected president after incumbent Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz was not able to run due to the two-term constitutional limit.

Background
Regional councils were first elected in Mauritania in 2018 following a 2017 constitutional referendum that abolished the Senate, replacing it with regional councils in every wilaya and a single one for the city of Nouakchott.

Those first 2018 regional elections led to the ruling party Union for the Republic (which rebranded as El Insaf in July 2022) taking control of all regional councils with an absolute majority thanks to the two-round system then applied to elect regional councils.

On 26 September 2022 an agreement between the Ministry of the Interior and Decentralisation and all political parties registered in Mauritania was reached in order to renew the Independent National Electoral Commission and hold the elections in the first semester of 2023, with parties justifying it due to climatic and logistical conditions.

Election system
On 26 September 2022 all Mauritanian political parties reached an agreement sponsored by the Ministry of Interior and Decentralisation to reform the election system ahead of the upcoming elections after weeks of meetings between all parties.

In this election, regional councils will be elected in a single round using proportional representation through the largest remainder method, with no threshold being applied. The head of the list that gets the most votes will automatically become president of the regional council.

Regional governments
The following table lists party control in each regional council. Gains for a party are highlighted in that party's colour.