With 78 per cent of votes counted, Mauritanian President, Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani has obtained over 55 per cent of total votes cast.
This places him in a hard-to-defeat position over six other presidential candidates, as his closest challenger, Biram Dah Abeid, has received less than 23 per cent of total votes.
As counting continued Sunday evening, incumbent President Ghazouani held the almost unassailable lead in the nationwide election of Saturday, June 29.
The countrys Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) announced the preliminary results in the later hours of Sunday afternoon, explaining that this was after counting more than 78 per cent of the ballots.
After Mohamed Ghazouani and second-placed Biram Dah Abeid came Hamadi Ould Sid El Moctar with 12.82 per cent; then El-Aid Ould Mohamedan who ranked fourth with 3.52 per cent.
