Mauritania’s President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani won reelection after positioning the country as a strategic ally of the West in a region swept by coups and violence, the country's electoral commission said on Monday.

Polls have closed in the presidential election in Mauritania.

Mauritania’s President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani — who is seeking a second term in office in a vote on Saturday — is promising more economic growth and social programs to eradicate poverty and prevent extremism in the vast West African desert nation, even though he is accused of corruption and mismanagement by his opponents.

Nearly 2 million people go to the polls on Saturday in Mauritania.