List of heads of state of Mauritania

This is a list of heads of state of Mauritania since the country gained independence from France in 1960 to the present day.

President of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania
رئيس الجمهورية الإسلامية الموريتانية (Arabic) Président de la République Islamique de la Mauritanie (French)
Seal of Mauritania
Presidential standard
Incumbent Mohamed Ould Ghazouani since 1 August 2019
Residence	Presidential Palace
Seat	Nouakchott
Term length	Five years, renewable once
Constituting instrument	Constitution of Mauritania (1991)
Inaugural holder	Moktar Ould Daddah
Formation	20 August 1961; 63 years ago (1961-08-20)
Salary	300,000 USD annually[1][2]
Website	presidence.mr

A total of nine people have served as head of state of Mauritania (not counting one acting president). Additionally, one person, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, has served on two non-consecutive occasions.

The current head of state of Mauritania is President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, since 1 August 2019.^[3][4]

Term limits

As of 2024, there is a two-term limit for the president in the Constitution of Mauritania. The first president who adhered to the term limits was Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz in 2019.^[5]

Titles

• 1960–1961: Acting Head of State
• 1961–1978: President of the Islamic Republic
• 1978–1979: Chairman of the Military Committee for National Recovery
• 1979: Head of State and Chairman of the Military Committee for National Recovery
• 1979–1992: Head of State and Chairman of the Military Committee for National Salvation
• 1992–2005: President of the Islamic Republic
• 2005–2007: Chairman of the Military Council for Justice and Democracy
• 2007–2008: President of the Islamic Republic
• 2008–2009: President of the High Council of State
• 2009–present: President of the Islamic Republic

List of officeholders

Political parties

  Mauritanian Regroupment Party (PRM)

  Mauritanian People's Party (PPM)

  Democratic and Social Republican Party (PRDS)

  National Pact for Democracy and Development (ADIL)

  Union for the Republic (UPR)

  El Insaf

Other factions

  Military

  Independent

Status

  Acting President

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Elected	Term of office			Political party		Prime minister(s)
				Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Moktar Ould Daddah (1924–2003)	1961 1966 1971 1976	28 November 1960	10 July 1978 (Deposed in a coup)	17 years, 224 days		PRM / PPM	Himself
2		Mustafa Ould Salek (1936–2012)	—	10 July 1978	3 June 1979 (Resigned)[a]	328 days		Military	Bouceif Sidi Haidalla
3		Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Louly (1943–2019)	—	3 June 1979	4 January 1980 (Deposed in a coup)	215 days		Military	Haidalla
4		Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla (born 1940)	—	4 January 1980	12 December 1984 (Deposed in a coup)	4 years, 343 days		Military	Himself Bneijara Taya Himself
5		Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya (born 1941)	1992 1997 2003	12 December 1984	3 August 2005 (Deposed in a coup)	20 years, 234 days		Military / PRDS	Himself Boubacar Khouna Guig Khouna M'Bareck
6		Ely Ould Mohamed Vall (1953–2017)	—	3 August 2005	19 April 2007	1 year, 259 days		Military (Sûreté Nationale)	Boubacar
7		Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi (1938–2020)	2007	19 April 2007	6 August 2008 (Deposed in a coup)	1 year, 109 days		Independent	Zeidane Waghef
								ADIL[b]
8		Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz (born 1956)	—	6 August 2008	15 April 2009	252 days		Military (BASEP)	Laghdaf
–		Ba Mamadou Mbaré (1946–2013)[c]	—	15 April 2009	5 August 2009	112 days		Independent	Laghdaf
								UPR[d]
(8)		Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz (born 1956)	2009 2014	5 August 2009	1 August 2019	9 years, 361 days		UPR	Laghdaf Hademine Béchir
9		Mohamed Ould Ghazouani (born 1956)	2019 2024	1 August 2019	Incumbent	6 years, 9 days		UPR	Béchir Sidiya Bilal Djay
								El Insaf[e]

Timeline

Latest election

Main article: 2024 Mauritanian presidential election

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Mohamed Cheikh Ghazouani	El Insaf	554,956	56.12
	Biram Dah Abeid	Democratic Alternation Pole	218,546	22.10
	Hamadi Sid’El Moctar Mohamed Abdi	National Rally for Reform and Development	126,340	12.78
	El Id Mohameden M’Bareck	Republican Front for Unity and Democracy	35,288	3.57
	Mamadou Bocar Ba	Alliance for Justice and Democracy/Movement for Renewal	23,617	2.39
	Outouma Antoine Souleimane Soumaré	Independent	20,360	2.06
	Mohamed Lemine El Mourteji El Wavi	Independent	9,722	0.98
Total			988,829	100.00
Valid votes			988,829	92.05
Invalid votes			53,787	5.01
Blank votes			31,608	2.94
Total votes			1,074,224	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			1,939,344	55.39
Source: National Independent Election Commission[9]

See also

• Politics of Mauritania
• List of prime ministers of Mauritania
• List of colonial governors of Mauritania

Notes

1. Resigned in the aftermath of the 1979 coup d'état.^[6]
2. Founded on 28 August 2007 as a political alliance^[7] and as a political party on 5 January 2008.^[8]
3. Simultaneously served as the President of the Senate. The first black leader of Mauritania.
4. Founded on 5 May 2009.
5. Founded in 2022.