Madar (Nouakchott) - Forces of Salvation opposition coalition chair MP Mohamed Lemine Sidi Maouloud warned on Saturday, October 17, 2026, that tampering with presidential term limits would open the door to coups and chaos, answering journalists' questions at a coalition press conference in Nouakchott.
He said what sets Mauritania apart from Sahel countries that have seen coups is the "national consensus" reached in 2006 and 2007 on peaceful alternation of power and term limits: "We locked our constitution and closed the door to coups."
He added that "anyone who opens this door" opens it "to coups and chaos" and "bears the responsibility", recalling that forces from both the majority and the opposition had stood against a third term the previous time.
The coalition chair criticised what he called laws "tailored" to restrict freedoms, citing the symbols law, the information law, the terrorism law, the National Assembly's internal rules, the lifting of MPs' immunity and their imprisonment, the "politicisation of the judiciary" and the use of public force against teachers, politicians, trade unionists and rights defenders.
He said the current regime had spent more in seven years, in debt and budgets, than previous regimes did in sixty years, calling on national and international financial institutions to take note.
Sidi Maouloud addressed a message to journalists, saying they bear a "responsibility to document", and ended by expressing "great hope" in the Mauritanian people, young people, the press, the opposition and independents.
