Djiboutis President Guelleh secures sixth consecutive re-election victory

Djibouti’s President Secures Landslide Victory in Presidential Election

Ismail Omar Guelleh, who has been in power since 1999, won the country’s latest presidential election with 97.81 percent of the vote, according to official results published by Djibouti’s state-run news agency. The results were announced on Friday, and Guelleh will now serve a sixth consecutive term as president.

Guelleh’s sole opponent, Mohamed Farah Samatar, received just 2.19 percent of the votes cast in the election. Samatar is the leader of the Unified Democratic Centre (CDU) opposition party, which has no seats in parliament. The CDU had struggled to gain recognition ahead of the polls.

Voter turnout was 80.4 percent on Friday, according to Djibouti media outlets. Approximately 256,000 people were registered to vote out of a population of roughly one million. Guelleh has been the country’s president since 1999 and is 78 years old.

Guelleh expressed his gratitude to voters as he cast his ballot at City Hall on Friday. He stated that he hoped for a successful outcome. The election was originally scheduled to close at 6pm local time, but it remained open for an additional hour due to delays.

Despite the low turnout of opposition supporters, Guelleh’s campaign had received significant attention in the lead-up to the election. Thousands had gathered at his rallies, and his posters were visible across the capital. In contrast, Samatar’s campaign events drew relatively few attendees.

Guelleh has faced criticism from human rights groups regarding government repression of freedom of speech and political activity. However, these allegations have been denied by the government.

Source: Al Jazeera