NOUAKCHOTT, Muharram 20, 1435, Nov 23, 2013, SPA -- Voters in Mauritania went to the polls in Saturday in legislative and local elections expected to bring a once-outlawed Islamist party into parliament for the first time, Reuters reported. The legislative polls - the first since a 2008 army putsch - are being boycotted by most of the West African nation's opposition parties. The Tawassoul party is one of two opposition parties taking part in the vote. Banned by the government until 2007, its ideology broadly mirrors that of the Muslim Brotherhood and its political platform calls for "respect for sharia (law) and the rejection of everything which violates it". -- SPA 20:17 LOCAL TIME 17:17 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/1171126