Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz vs Nguyen Van Thieu

General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz led a military coup on August 6, 2008, overthrowing democratically elected President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi. He suspended the constitution and established a military junta.

After resigning from the army, Abdel Aziz won the presidential election on July 18, 2009, with 52.6% of the vote. The election was boycotted by opposition parties and criticized internationally.

Abdel Aziz won re-election in June 2014 with 81.9% of the vote amid an opposition boycott. He later pushed through a constitutional referendum in 2017 that abolished the Senate and changed the flag.

Abdel Aziz resigned on March 15, 2019, to allow his successor to take office after the 2019 presidential election. This marked the first peaceful transfer of power in Mauritania's history.

Nguyen Van Thieu was elected president of South Vietnam in a US-supervised election, with Nguyen Cao Ky as vice president. The election was marred by fraud and limited participation, but it provided a veneer of legitimacy for the military-dominated government during the Vietnam War.

North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces launched the Tet Offensive, a massive surprise attack on cities and military bases across South Vietnam. Thieu's government survived the assault, but the offensive exposed the vulnerability of the regime and shifted US public opinion against the war.

Thieu reluctantly signed the Paris Peace Accords, which called for a ceasefire and US withdrawal from Vietnam. The agreement allowed North Vietnamese troops to remain in the South, and Thieu's government was left to fight alone, leading to its eventual collapse.

As North Vietnamese forces advanced on Saigon, Nguyen Van Thieu resigned the presidency and fled to Taiwan. His departure marked the end of South Vietnam, which surrendered unconditionally days later, leading to the reunification of Vietnam under communist rule.