Djiboutian President Reelected
Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh was reelected by a resounding margin. (Flickr).
Voters in Djibouti reelected Ismail Omar Guelleh to his fifth term as president on April 10. Provisional results showed Guelleh winning with 167,535 votes, approximately 98.58 percent of the total. Overall, about 215,000 citizens were registered to vote in the election.
Guelleh’s sole opponent was Zakaria Ismail Farah, a cleaning products importer and political outsider who received fewer than 5,000 votes. While independent election observers verified no reports of misconduct, Farah claimed that many of his delegates were barred from polling stations. He stated, “My vote is of no use, nor are the votes of 80 percent of the Djiboutian people.” Meanwhile, Djibouti’s major opposition parties boycotted the election. Daher Ahmed Farah, leader of the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Renewal, said “It is a farce; it is not an election. It is a system, the whole state is in the hands of the president and his party.”
Guelleh improved on his results since the last presidential election, in 2016, which he won with 87 percent of the vote. The president, often referred to by his initials IOG, has led Djibouti since 1999, when he replaced Hassan Gouled Aptidon, the country’s first president following independence from France in 1975. Guelleh and his family members have ruled Djibouti with an extremely tight grip while in power, generally avoiding the political instability that has plagued many other countries in the region. The regime is notorious for using violence to suppress dissent. Last year, the government brutally cracked down on a rare protest movement that mobilized after the arrest and torture of a whistleblower who exposed corruption. Freedom House rates Djibouti as “not free,” giving it five points out of 40 for political rights and 19 out of 60 for civil liberties.
At age 73, this will most likely be Guelleh’s final term in office. A 2010 constitutional amendment abolished presidential term limits, allowing Guelleh to run in 2012 and 2016, but mandated an age limit of 75 years. As Guelleh will be over the age of 75 by the next election, in 2026, he will not be eligible for reelection, barring further changes to the constitution.
On Facebook, hours after the provisional results were announced, the newly reelected president wrote, “Thank you for your trust, thank you for Djibouti! Let’s continue together!” Over his final five-year term, Guelleh’s main aim is to further the development program he began early in his presidency, in order to boost the country’s economic prospects. In the words of his deputy campaign director, Djama Mohamed Hassan, he is looking to “finish the job.”