Ahmed Ould Daddah

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Ahmed Ould Daddah (born 7 August 1942^[1]) is a Mauritanian economist, politician and civil servant. He is a half-brother of Moktar Ould Daddah, the first President of Mauritania, and belongs to the Marabout Ouled Birri tribe.

Daddah began his career in 1971 as the director-general of the National Import-Export bank of Mauritania. In 1973, he began a stint as the Governor of the national Central Bank, ending in 1978. He was minister of finance and commerce in 1978. Following his brother's ouster, Daddah was an economist for the World Bank from 1986 to 1991.^[1] In January 1992 he ran for president against Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya and took second place with 32.73% of the vote; after a boycott of the December 1997 election, he ran again in November 2003 and took third place with 6.89%, behind Taya and Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla.^[2]

He is currently the leader of the Rally of Democratic Forces and declared his party to be "the country's biggest political force" after the November 2006 Mauritanian parliamentary election,^[3] as head of the eight party opposition alliance. He was a candidate in the March 2007 presidential election. In the first round, held on 11 March, he won almost 21% of the vote, in second place behind Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, who won almost 25%.^[4] In the second round of the election, held on 25 March, Daddah was defeated by Abdallahi, taking 47.15% of the vote against Abdallahi's 52.85%.^[2]^[5] Daddah won in three of the country's 13 regions: in the capital, Nouakchott, in Inchiri Region,^[6] and in Trarza Region, where he is from.^[5]^[6] Daddah accepted the results and congratulated Abdallahi on his victory.^[5]