Comoros’s incumbent President wins another term in office

Azali Assoumani, the President of Comoros, has been declared winner of Sunday disputed elections with 62.97% of the vote, extending therefore his grip on power for five more years.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) released results of the presidential polls on Tuesday January 16.

“This triumph is not just mine. It belongs to the resilient people of Comoros who have spoken. It’s a shared victory,” Assoumani said in his address to supporters just after being declared the winner.

The win makes no need for a second round. The opposition has however rejected the vote. Mouigni Baraka Said Soilihi, one of the primary opponents, vehemently denounced the results, alleging widespread fraud and irregularities in the electoral process.

The release of results was preceded by violence and protests mainly in Grande-Comore, Anjouan, and Moheli — home to 870,000 people.

In Anjouan, the opposition stronghold, youths had taken to the streets in defiance of a ban on protests. Anjouan governor Anissi Chamsidine denounced in a statement to French news agency AFP what he said was a “flagrant breach of transparency and fairness” that had undermined the vote.

Assoumani, a former military officer, who first came to power in a 1999 coup, has now served two non-consecutive terms as president, from 2002 to 2006 and from 2016 to the present.