How is the national electoral register created?

IFES, Election FAQs: Mauritania, Legislative, Regional, and Local Elections, May 13, 2023; accessed 13 June 2023

“Voters must be registered before Election Day to cast their ballots. To register, voters must possess valid biometric identity cards. In the September 2022 political agreement framework, political parties and the government decided to compile an entirely new voter register to increase public confidence in its accuracy, comprehensiveness, and inclusiveness. Due to the imminent expiration of many biometric ID cards, they extended validity until 2024 to facilitate the registration process. Therefore, the voters’ list used in 2019 for the presidential election was discarded. The register was built anew through a process known as Recensement administratif à vocation électorale (administrative census for electoral purposes, RAVEL). The RAVEL is the exclusive responsibility of the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI). It commenced on January 27, 2023, and closed on March 13, 2023, after a 15-day extension. In 2019, 1.5 million voters were registered; the final figure for the most recent RAVEL was 1,785,035, including 22,288 Mauritanians living abroad.”