Mauritania Votes in Favour of Abolishing their Senate
News monitored on Al Jazeera Network has it that Mauritanians have voted to abolish their senate and alter their national flag by referendum. The electoral commission announced this on Sunday, in a clear victory for President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz the day after the vote. While turnout was 53.73 percent, 85 percent of voters on Saturday declared "Yes" to changes put to a referendum when they were defeated in the Senate in March, despite fierce criticism from a boycott movement that called mass protests during campaigning. Abdel Aziz, who last week described the senate as "useless and too costly," has said the move to abolish the governing body would improve governance by introducing more local forms of lawmaking. But the boycott movement drew broad political support from figures as diverse as religious conservatives and anti-slavery activists. Members of opposition parties spearheading the boycotters held a press conference on Sunday during which they denoun...