Djibouti: African Union deploys election observers to Djibouti | PM News

The African Union (AU) has deployed its election observers to Djibouti, for the legislative elections scheduled to take place on Friday in the Horn of African nation. The Chairperson of the AU Commission, Moussa Mahamat, has deployed the AU Election Observation Mission (AUEOM)
led by Anicet-Georges Dologuele, former Prime Minister of the Central African Republic (CAR), according to a statement from the pan-African bloc on Monday.

Djibouti: Opposition Rejects Election, Cites Fraud | VoA News

Djibouti opposition leaders are rejecting the results of the country’s presidential election, citing fraud. Djibouti’s ruling party declared on Saturday that President Ismail Omar Guelleh won Friday’s presidential election, gaining nearly 87 percent of the votes. Three candidates who ran against the incumbent told VOA Somali the result was “false.” The independent candidate Mohamed Muse Tourtour said, “A national vote-stealing occurred, it is false and I will not accept it.”

Djibouti: Guelleh seeks fourth term, opposition candidates doubt integrity of vote | Reuters

Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh, in power since 1999, was expected to win a fourth term in office in an election that began on Friday, although some opposition candidates openly doubted the integrity of the vote. Guelleh, who won the last election in 2011 with almost 80 percent of the vote, has overseen Djibouti’s economic rise as it seeks to position itself as an international port. “I am confident of the final victory,” he said after casting his vote. But a leading opposition candidate said he would not accept the election result after some voters were expelled from polling stations. “It’s part of the diet of the strategy to destabilize us,” Omar Elmi Khaireh told Reuters.

Djibouti: Presidential Election 2016: Guide To Candidates, Key Issues, Rules And Results | International Business Times

Under the baking hot sun in Djibouti’s capital, campaign posters of President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh line the buildings and supporters clad in the ruling coalition’s colors parade the streets looking to win over voters ahead of Friday’s national election. With a divided opposition and no strong challenger, Guelleh is widely expected to extend his 17-year grip on power in the Horn of Africa nation yet again. Guelleh, who is nicknamed IOG, has been in power since 1999 and is seeking a fourth term Friday. He won the last presidential election five years ago with 80 percent of the vote, after Parliament amended the constitution to get rid of term limits in 2010. Guelleh, 68, is Djibouti’s second president since it gained independence from France in 1977. He was the handpicked successor of his uncle and the country’s first president, Hassan Gouled Aptidon, who died in 2006. Supporters of Guelleh’s ruling coalition, the Union for the Presidential Majority, are confident of an easy victory on Friday. “We are optimistic, especially when we see that the opposition party is straggling,” Foreign Minister Mahamoud Ali Youssouf recently told Agence France-Presse.

Djibouti: Tensions Rise Ahead of Historic Legislative Elections | Somaliland Sun

Djibouti is undergoing a major change. For the first time since the independence of this small east African nation in 1977, the opposition party might be elected to parliament in the legislative elections taking place on February 22. To date, the electoral campaign, which started on February 8, has been unfolding calmly. But the political discourse between supporters of the different parties has already soured. A historic image: thousands of people gathering beneath the banners of the Union for National Salvation (USN), the coalition that brings together the Djiboutian opposition. After ten years of boycotting elections, these political parties are now participating in the legislative elections and running against the UMP, the Union for the Presidential Majority. After having been shut out from political life for the last 36 years, the opposition will now finally be able to sit in parliament.

Djibouti: Opposition parties to contest parliamentary elections | Sabahionline.com

Three main opposition parties in Djibouti — the Republican Alliance for Development, the Djibouti Party for Development and the National Democratic Party — are preparing to take part in next month’s legislative elections under the banner of a new political bloc known as the Holy Union for Change (USC). “After intensive discussions, the opposition bloc, which has been joined by movements and independent figures, has formed a coalition to bring a 10-year political boycott to an end,” a USC statement said last month. The ruling coalition, Union for a Presidential Majority (UMP), which has been in power for a decade, included the People’s Rally for Progress, the Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy, the Union of Reform Partisans and the Social Democratic Party.