By Daniel Flynn NOUAKCHOTT, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Mauritanians took their first steps towards democracy on Sunday by voting in parliamentary and municipal elections which test the willingness of their military rulers to relinquish power after a bloodless coup last year. Power has never changed hands through the ballot box before in the impoverished Islamic republic, which straddles black and Arab West Africa. Some voters cautiously hailed a new beginning. "This vote is going to change things a little," said taxi driver Boubacar Sall. "Mauritanians understand now it is not the president who has all the power, it is the people." Short queues formed at polling stations in the dusty capital Nouakchott as voting began slowly. Some 1.1 million Mauritanians, or just over a third of the population, are registered to vote in Sunday's ballot, which prepares the way for the military junta to hand over power through presidential elections in March. Many black Mauritanians expressed hope the polls could challenge the dominance of Mauritania's lighter-skinned traditional Moorish elite, which holds power in Africa's newest oil producer. "I have passed my exams and I speak Arabic well, but I can't get a good job, because of this," said Billal Ould Simbara, a night watchman, touching his black skin. Twenty-eight parties are competing for 95 national assembly seats. A liberal coalition that includes the Assembly of Democratic Forces (RFD) of veteran opposition leader Ahmed Ould Daddah is expected to perform well. MODERATE ISLAMISTS Although officially banned, moderate Islamists are also running in the polls for the first time as independents. The ruling military council, headed by Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, has pushed ahead with political reform since ousting President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya in August last year after more than two decades of authoritarian rule. A referendum in June approved constitutional changes to limit presidential terms -- making Mauritania one of the few Arab nations to impose such measures. A fifth of political parties' candidates must also be women by law. While European Union observers have expressed confidence in the fairness of the polls, political parties have accused the junta of trying to cling to power by promoting independent candidates, who make up around a quarter of all electoral lists. Many of them are grouped in a bloc called the Assembly of Independent Candidates. "There is an attempt to re-establish the old order," said Mohamed Ould Maouloud, head of the UFP party which forms part of the liberal coalition. "But the military council is intelligent. There are calls for them to remain in power but they can see the risks," he added.
