Mauritanians have never been permitted to choose their representatives or change their government in open, competitive elections. Electoral provisions in the country’s 1991 French-style constitution have not been respected in practice. The absence of an independent election commission, state control of broadcasts, harassment of independent print media, and the incumbent's use of state resources to promote his candidacy devalued Taya’s presidential victory. In deeply flawed 1996 legislative elections, the military-backed ruling PRDS won all but 7 of the 79 national assembly seats against a divided opposition. The umbrella Front of Opposition Parties dismissed the polls as fraudulent and boycotted the second round of the 1996 legislative polls and the 1997 presidential vote.

The government provided all candidates equal access to its two newspapers and electronic media for the January 1999 municipal elections. The vote, however, was boycotted by some of the opposition, and there was very low voter turnout. The government determined there were widespread abuses in some areas and held new elections in those communities. The ruling party scored an overwhelming majority.

Mauritania’s judicial system is heavily influenced by the government. Many decisions are shaped by Sharia (Islamic law), especially in family and civil matters. The government is carrying out a program to improve judicial performance and independence. Legislation passed in 1999 created separate tribunals for specific types of disputes.

Numerous nongovernmental organizations operate, including human rights and antislavery groups. A handful of black African activist groups and Islamist parties are banned. There are reports that black Africans are barred from holding meetings and are harassed when they attempt to do so without permission. The banned El Hor (Free Man) Movement promotes black rights, while widespread discrimination against blacks continues. As many as 100,000 blacks still live in conditions of servitude. In 1996, the U.S. Congress voted to suspend all nonhumanitarian aid to Mauritania until antislavery laws are properly enforced. Black resistance movements continue to call for armed struggle against discrimination and enforced Arabization. The World Organization Against Torture said in August that it had received reports that police tortured and otherwise abused 83 black Mauritanians during and after demonstrations in June in the southwest. The demonstrators were protesting the actions of a regional governor who gave his brother a large concession of land allegedly belonging to Haratines (descendants of black slaves). Many black Mauritanians were expelled or fled during race-based attacks from 1990 to 1991. Upon their return, many had trouble regaining access to the land they previously had held.

Several demonstrators were detained briefly in November in anti-Israeli protests that were boosted by anger over the government’s banning of the opposition UFD-EN. Prison conditions are harsh but improving. Authorities often ignore the requirements of a warrant to conduct home searches. Government surveillance of opposition figures reportedly continues.

Prepublication censorship, arrests of journalists, and seizures and bans of newspapers devalue constitutional guarantees of free expression. About 20 privately owned newspapers publish on a regular basis. All publications must be officially registered. The state owns the only two daily newspapers and monopolizes nearly all broadcast media. Independent publications openly criticize the government, but all publications must be submitted to the interior ministry prior to distribution. A community radio station focusing on women’s issues was launched in July 1999.

Authorities seized at least seven independent weekly newspapers during 2000, according to Reporters Sans Frontieres. It called on the government to repeal Article 11, under which the seizures were made. The article forbids dissemination of reports deemed to “attack the principles of Islam or the credibility of the state, harm the general interest, or disturb public order and security.”

Mauritania is an Islamic state in which, by statute, all citizens are Sunni Muslims who may not possess other religious texts or enter non-Muslim households. The right to worship, however, is generally tolerated. Non-Mauritanian Shiite Muslims and Christians are permitted to worship privately, and some churches operate openly.

Societal discrimination against women is widespread but is improving. Under Sharia, a woman’s testimony is given only half the weight of a man’s. Legal protections regarding property and equality of pay are usually respected only in urban areas among the educated elite. At least one-quarter of women undergo female genital mutilation (FGM). The government has intensive media and education campaigns against this practice and against forced feeding of adolescent girls, known as gavage.

Approximately one-fourth of Mauritania’s workers serve in the small formal sector. The government-allied Union of Mauritanian Workers is the dominant labor organization. The government has forcibly ended strikes and detained or banned union activists from the capital.