Mauritania entered a period of electoral silence at midnight on Friday, more than 24 hours before voters go to the polls to choose the country’s president in the eighth presidential election since the adoption of a multi-party system in 1991.

Seven candidates, including incumbent President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, are competing.

More than 1.9 million citizens are eligible to vote, a quarter of them in the capital Nouakchott, home to about one third of the country’s population.

The current electoral roll has increased by about 300,000 voters following a revision of voter lists in recent months.

Voting for Mauritania’s new president begins on Saturday morning.