In Mauritania, the country's Constitutional Court has declared the result of Saturday’s presidential elections valid.

The leader of the northwest African country, General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, won almost 52 percent of the votes, which means that no second round of voting is required.

The general’s main rivals, however, rejected the official result as "prefabricated" and claimed that wide-scale election fraud had taken place.

Last year, when General Abdel Aziz seized power in a coup, the European Union suspended all aid to the country. It has not yet been decided whether aid will be resumed.

Photo of Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz from Wikimedia Commons