In Mauritania, Democracy Takes Root

Mauritania Junta leader Col. Ely Ould Mohamed Vall seen as he votes at the city of Nouakchott, Mauritania, in this Sunday, June 25, 2006 file photo. The military commander who rules Mauritania refers to the vast, cream-colored palace generations of dictators have refused to leave as his "prison," saying he will not be free until he turns it over as promised to a president elected in a vote set for Sunday (AP/Photo Schalk van Zuydam, File) (Schalk Van Zuydam - AP)

Taya, who gained power in a 1984 coup, often jailed opposition candidates, snuffing out their campaigns before they gained momentum. On election day, Taya routinely received more ballots than the number of registered voters in some precincts.

Tents have now sprouted throughout the capital, and underneath their flaps, political rallies unfold nightly to the beat of drums. Voters have scotch-taped posters of candidates to car windshields. Others drive holding portraits of their candidate through the sunroof, pumping them up and down to the rhythm of blasting car radios.

"For the first time, in each house, there are different political opinions. In my family, I'm for one candidate, but my mother backs another, my brother another, my father another. Before, we had just one opinion," said 17-year-old Lamina Mint Ameine. "The military gave us democracy perfectly. I just hope that those that come will continue."

Some fear the future, said Mohamed Fall Ould Ouimer, editor-in-chief of La Tribune, an independent newspaper frequently censored during Taya's regime.

"This is a nation of nomads and nomads hate uncertainty. They want to know that when they take off on road X, they'll reach oasis Y after kilometer Z. Now they don't know what's going to happen, so they feel panicked. They want to grasp onto what they know," said Ouimer, who was jailed for writing editorials critical of the former ruler.

Although the changes of the past two years have marked "huge progress" there is still a long way to go, said Ahmed Ould Daddah, who twice ran against Taya in elections considered rigged and who is one of the 19 candidates.

The 64-year-old former World Bank economist was jailed seven times and his rallies have garnered large crowds, with supporters saying they trust him not to return the country to its totalitarian past because he himself was a victim of repression.

Though newspapers are no longer censored, Daddah points out that the country still lacks a private TV or radio station. And he worries that some candidates have inexplicably large campaign budgets, a sign he says, of the hand of Taya.

"Now we just hope those that have ruled the country in the past will let the people have their say. The people are not afraid of the unknown. They're afraid of going back to the totalitarian ways of the past," he said.

One thing no one doubts is that Vall will step down.

Not far from the presidential palace, workers in the dying light apply plaster to the walls of the home where Vall lived before the coup, and where he plans to return next week.

Under plastic sheets in a back room are Vall's belongings _ furniture, books, his children's toys, none of which he brought to the palace his predecessor occupied for 21 years.

"I always knew I wouldn't stay long," Vall said, sitting on the cream-colored couch where the dictator once held court. "And because I knew I wouldn't stay long, I didn't bring much. There will be no need for packing boxes."