Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0237/02372.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 26KB | 412 lines

$Unique_ID{COW02372}
$Pretitle{361}
$Title{Mauritania
Chapter 4B.   Local Government}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Robert E. Handloff}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{government
political
utm
local
women
military
national
regional
councils
nouakchott}
$Date{1987}
$Log{}
Country:     Mauritania
Book:        Mauritania, A Country Study
Author:      Robert E. Handloff
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1987

Chapter 4B.   Local Government

     The 1961 Constitution kept the highly centralized colonial structure of
counties (cercles), subdivisions (sous-prefectures), and administrative posts.
Local councils were established in the twelve cercles--the French created
eleven cercles coterminous with the old amirates, and the newly independent
government created a twelfth cercle, Tiris Zemmour, out of northern Adrar--as
representative and administrative bodies to replace the chiefs and councils of
notables through whom the French ruled. By 1961 urban and rural communes had
been created, and rudimentary representative councils had been established
with elected mayors in the urban communes. There were five urban communes
modeled after similar bodies in France in Rosso, Kaedi, Atar, Bogue, and
Nouakchott (see fig. 1). Three experimental communes were established in
Nouadhibou, `Ayoun el `Atrous, and Fderik. Although the government attempted
to give the councils and mayors of the communes control over communal
legislation, the communes failed to fulfill any meaningful function for lack
of trained and experienced managerial cadres and for want of resources to
support local administration. With the Law of March 4, 1968, the rural
communes were abolished, and less than a year later the urban and experimental
communes were also eliminated. Local administration reverted to the
traditional authorities, who became the links between the rulers and the rest
of the population.

     On July 30, 1968, the resources and functions of the former communes were
transferred to twelve regions and one district (Nouakchott) in sweeping
reforms of local administration. Each of the regions, which were generally
coterminous with the former cercles, were subdivided into departements,
generally coterminous with the former sous- prefectures, and further divided
into arrondissements, corresponding to the former administrative posts. A
thirteenth region encompassing al Gharbia (that part of Western Sahara claimed
by Mauritania) was created in 1976; however, it was abandoned when Mauritania
withdrew from the Western Sahara conflict. The state viewed the regions as
serving as administrative subdivisions and as independent judicial districts.

     Each region was headed by a governor representing the central government.
The governor headed the administrative bureaucracy of the region, ensured the
execution of laws and regulations, and coordinated state services (except for
military and judicial activities). Under his authority were prefets, who
administered departements, as well as other civil servants of the region. The
governor's staff also included two assistants responsible for administration
and economic and social development. The governor and his two assistants were
appointed by the president.

     Each region had a regional assembly of twenty to thirty members
(conseillers) named by presidential decree from a list of nominees presented
by the party. The conseillers served with no pay for five years. The regional
assemblies had only minimal autonomy. The regional budgets for which they
voted were prepared by the government in Nouakchott and included mandatory
expenses, such as the cost of administration and maintenance of local roads
and secondary airports. Regional assemblies could also levy taxes on certain
specified goods and allocate a portion of their budgetary subvention from the
central government to discretionary items. In spite of these apparent moves
toward decentralization, effective control remained with the central
government in the name of forging national unity. Regional assemblies served
only to disseminate orders and information from Nouakchott, and not to mediate
between local and centralized authority.

     Under military rule, the government no longer pursued even the pretense
of democracy. Although the office of regional governor was retained, the
regional assemblies, like the National Assembly, were eliminated. In addition
to a regional governor with responsibility for regional administration, six
regions also had a regional military commander responsible for maintaining
internal security, a task that included monitoring and controlling political
dissent within his region. The two regions classified as autonomous military
sectors also had military commanders with responsibilities similar to those of
the regular commanders.

Local Elections

     To appease the demands of ethnic minorities and diminish the role and
obligations of an already overburdened government, Taya's government
hesitantly took the first steps toward democratization and decentralization.
In December 1986, residents of Nouakchott and Mauritania's regional capitals,
by then numbering twelve, voted for candidates for thirteen municipal
councils. The municipal councils consisted of either thirty or thirty-six
members, depending on the size of the constituency. For example, the Atar
council had thirty seats; Zouirat had thirty-six. The councils assumed
responsibility for local economic and financial planning and for cultural
activities; however, as in the old regional assemblies, theirs was a limited
autonomy. In addition to the elected counseillers and mayor, each council
included an agent of the state with the title of secretary general, appointed
by the minister of interior, information, and telecommunications. The
ostensible task of the secretaries general was to provide managerial expertise
to the elected counseillers and mayor, none of whom may have had previous
administrative experience. At the same time, however, the secretaries general
acted as representatives of the central government and thus fulfilled the Taya
government's objective of decentralizing while maintaining national control.

     Membership in the municipal councils was determined by popular vote with
universal suffrage and secret ballots. Locally based political parties, some
of which had ties with parties in other areas and all of which included as
part of their name the word union, nominated slates for all or a portion of
the seats on the council. Debate dealt exclusively with local issues, and a
limit of four candidates represented the four slates contesting each seat. The
campaigns and elections in December 1986 were conducted in what has been
characterized as a surprisingly decorous manner, with between 48 and 65
percent of the electorate voting. To its credit, the government refused to
inflate vote totals as is often customary elsewhere in the Third World. In
four of the thirteen municipalities, no slate won a majority during the first
round of voting, so a runoff vote was held a week later on December 26, 1986.
Once seated, the councils elected mayors who, in every city except Nouakchott,
had headed the majority slate in the council. In the capital, Mohamed Ould
Mah, who headed the Union for Progress and Brotherhood minority slate, won an
unexpected victory over the leader of the majority National Democratic Union
slate.

     In some respects, the election of municipal councils seemed little more
than a repeat of earlier, somewhat pretentious attempts to bring the trappings
of representative democracy to a society unaccustomed to mass political
participation. But unlike earlier efforts, which were inappropriate copies of
the colonial administration, the new councils had organic roots and modest
aspirations. In light of the paucity of resources available to the mayors and
the councils, foreign observers doubted that this experiment in democracy
would resolve Mauritania's profound economic and political problems.
Nevertheless, the Taya re