Mauritania had a coup in which its first democratically elected president, President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, was ousted. The new leadership holds an election that the coup-installed leader, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, wins comfortably and by enough of a margin to avoid a runoff. There are allegations of corruption in the voting. The opposition calls the result an “electoral coup.” The story is sadly familiar even if the backdrop has changed.
