Mauritania is an African country bordered by Algeria, Mali, and Senegal. To the west is the Atlantic Ocean. The population of this country is approx 46,14,000 with 10,30,000 square kilometers area. Islam is the State Religion.
The constitution of Mauritania is not very rich. But Article 11 is beautiful. Political parties in Mauritania are not capable of destroying national sovereignty, territorial integrity and the unity of the nation and the state.
Article 2 is very beautiful, which clearly states, “The people are the source of all power.”. Coup d'état and unconstitutional change of power have been treated as grave crimes. But strangely enough, Article 2 also says, "Nevertheless, these acts, when they were committed before the date of entry into force of this constitutional law will not give rise to prosecution.” The question is why? Because during the reign of the ruler, this constitution was written and effective, he himself obtained illegal power.
The military coup in Mauritania is a two fingers slap type thing. The most junior officer in the military believes that the government is a complete failure in running the country and all problems will be solved overnight if he takes over as president himself. Even if someone is dismissed from the job, he stages a coup against the government.
Admirable Articles of Mauritania's Constitution
Article 4
The law is the supreme expression of the will of the people. All are required to submit to it.
Article 11
The political parties and groups concur in the formation and to the expression of the political will. They are formed and they exercise their activities freely under the condition of respecting the democratic principles and of not infringing, by their object or by their action[,] the national sovereignty, the territorial integrity, and the unity of the Nation and of the Republic.
The law establishes the conditions of creation, of functioning, and of dissolution of the political parties.
Facts of Mauritania's Constitution
Preamble
Trusting in the omnipotence of Allah, the Mauritanian people proclaim their will to guarantee the integrity of its Territory, its Independence, and its National Unity and to assume its free political, economic and social evolution.
Strong from its spiritual values and from the radiation of its civilization, it also proclaims, solemnly, its attachment to Islam and to the principles of democracy as they have been defined by the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man of 10 December 1948 and by the African Charter of the Rights of Man and of Peoples of 28 June 1981 as well as in the other international conventions to which Mauritania has subscribed.
Considering that the liberty, the equality, and the dignity of Man cannot be assured except in a society which consecrates the primacy of law, concerned by creating durable conditions for a harmonious social evolution, respectful of the precepts of Islam, sole source of law and open to the exigencies of the modern world, the Mauritanian people proclaim, in particular, the intangible guarantee of the following rights and principles:
● the right to equality;
● the fundamental freedoms and rights of the human person;
● the right of property;
● the political freedoms and the trade union [syndicales] freedoms;
● the economic and social rights;
● the rights attached to the family, basic unit of the Islamic society.
United throughout history, by shared moral and spiritual values and aspiring to a common future, the Mauritanian People recognize and proclaim their cultural diversity, base of national unity and of social cohesion, and its corollary, the right to be different [à la difference]. The Arabic language, official language of the country and the other national languages, the Poular, the Soninké and the Wolof, constitute, each in itself, a national common patrimony to all Mauritanians that the State must, in the name of all, preserve and promote.
Conscious of the necessity of strengthening the ties with [their] brother peoples, the Mauritanian people, Muslim people, Arab and African, proclaim that they will work for the realization of the unity of the Grand Maghreb, of the Arab Nation and of Africa and for the consolidation of peace in the world.
Article 1 (Part of it)
Mauritania is an Islamic, indivisible, democratic, and social Republic.
Article 2
The people are the source of all power.
The national sovereignty belongs to the people who exercise it through their elected representatives and by way [voie] of referendum.
No fraction of the people or any individual may arrogate its exercise.
Political power is acquired, is exercised and is transmitted, within the framework of peaceful alternation, in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution. The coups d’état and other forms of unconstitutional changes of power are considered as imprescriptible crimes whose authors or accomplices, physical or juridical persons [personnes physiques ou morales], are punished by the law. Nevertheless, these acts, when they were committed before the date of entry into force of this constitutional law will not give rise to prosecution.
No partial or total abandonment of sovereignty may be decided without the consent of the people.
Article 5
Islam is the religion of the people and of the State.
Article 23
The President of the Republic is the Head of the State. He is of Muslim religion.
Article 29
The President of the Republic newly elected enters his functions at the expiration of the mandate of his predecessor. Before entering into [his] function, the President of the Republic takes an oath in these terms:
"I swear by Allah the Unique to well and faithfully perform my functions, respecting the Constitution and the laws, to watch over the interest of the Mauritanian People, to safeguard the independence and the sovereignty of the country, the unity of the fatherland and the integrity of the national territory.
I swear by Allah the Unique, not to take or support at all, directly or indirectly, an initiative that could lead to the revision of constitutional provisions related to the duration of the presidential mandate and to the regime of its renewal, specified in Articles 26 and 28 of this Constitution.”
The oath is taken before the Constitutional
Council, in the presence of the Bureau of the National Assembly, of the
Bureau of the Senate, of the President of the Supreme Court and of the President of the High Islamic Council.
