78-year-old extends 27-year rule in vote boycotted by two main opposition parties over impartiality concerns
\n Djibouti City
\nDjibouti\u2019s President Ismael Omar Guelleh has won re-election with 97.8% of the vote, state-owned Radio Television Djibouti said on Saturday, handing him a sixth term that extends his 27-year rule over the small but strategically located East African country.
\nGuelleh posted an image of himself with the French word \u201cR\u00c9\u00c9LU\u201d on X, which translates to \u201cre-elected\u201d.
\nThe country of less than 1 million people sits on the Gulf of Aden at the entrance to the Red Sea and hosts United States, Chinese, French, Italian and Japanese military bases. Since 2023, several commercial ships damaged in attacks by Yemen\u2019s Houthi militants have docked in the country.
\nVictory for the 78-year-old Guelleh, who was handpicked in 1999 to succeed his uncle Hassan Gouled Aptidon and whose party dominates national institutions, was never in doubt.
\nLast October, parliament voted to remove the 75-year age limit for presidential candidates and also scrapped a referendum previously required to approve a new constitution.
\nTwo main opposition parties boycotted election
\nIn Friday\u2019s vote, Guelleh faced a lone opposition candidate, Mohamed Farah Samatar, from a small party with no representation in parliament.
\nTwo of the main opposition parties have boycotted elections since 2016, accusing election authorities of lacking impartiality. Data from state-owned media showed that there was voter turnout of 80.4%. In the last election in 2021, Guelleh won with over 97% of the vote.
\nIn contrast to several other Horn of Africa nations, Djibouti has been relatively stable in recent years, and Guelleh\u2019s government has invested heavily in port infrastructure to become the main gateway to landlocked Ethiopia.
\nBut human rights groups accuse the Djiboutian authorities of repressing political opponents, activists and journalists. The government has denied allegations of widespread abuses and rejected criticism of the electoral process.
\nIn 2020, security forces quelled rare anti-government street protests, which erupted after the arrest of a former air force pilot who had denounced alleged corruption and clan-based discrimination.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
78-year-old extends 27-year rule in vote boycotted by two main opposition parties over impartiality concerns Djibouti City Djibouti\u2019s President Ismael Omar Guelleh has won re-election with 97.8% of the vote, state-owned Radio Television Djibouti said on Saturday, handing him a sixth term that extends his 27-year rule over the small but strategically located East African […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541391,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-541365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n