Voters in the Comoros began casting their ballots today, Sunday, to elect a president as a successor to Ghazali Assoumani, who is seeking a third term in the face of a divided opposition, some of which has called for a boycott of the vote.
President Assoumani’s campaign team raised the slogan “knockout,” urging voters to elect Assoumani in the first round. They hope to replicate the 2019 election results when Assoumani won with 60% of the votes in the first round.
In the capital, Moroni, where rain falls incessantly, several polling stations awaited their staff, and election lists were still being posted after seven am (4:00 GMT), the scheduled start time for the election. Gendarmes and police forces deployed, anticipating the arrival of the first wave of voters.
The central city office director told Agence France-Presse, “The vote has not started because we are waiting for the necessary equipment to set up the voting room,” while other centers slowly began to receive the first voters.
Billboards featured pictures of the president with captions reading “Ghazali, architect of tomorrow’s Comoros,” in this small nation of 870,000 inhabitants. Voters are also supposed to elect governors for the major islands of the Comoros archipelago: Grande Comore, Anjouan, and Moheli.
Assoumani won the 2019 elections with 60% of the votes in the first round (Reuters)
Polling stations are slated to remain open until 6:00 pm (3:00 pm GMT), where approximately 340,000 voters are set to choose a president from six candidates.
The opposition fears an “election hijack” and condemned the unpublished voter lists throughout the past week. Many voters are reportedly unaware of which polling station they should vote at.
Mohammed Daoudou, a candidate and former interior minister under Assoumani’s administration, claimed that the five opposition candidates “are working together to thwart the ruling party’s election fraud in collusion with the head of the election commission.”
Latouf Abdu, from the Juwa Party, raised objections to “the irregular appointment of polling station members who are all part of the power structure, the majority of whom do not meet the required competence level.”
The army has been put on alert to intervene in case of disturbances; however, protests are rare in this predominantly Muslim country, where 45% of the population lives below the poverty line, according to World Bank estimates.
The opposition says many voters do not know at which center they should vote (French Press Agency)
Antouvia Ali, a mother of three, told Agence France-Presse, “It’s hard to get food. With 10 euros, we can’t shop every day.” She added, “I earn 130 euros a month and can’t make ends meet, hoping for a decrease in food prices.”
Several civil society organizations confirmed their presence at polling stations “to protect” citizens’ votes.
The Election Observatory, a local organization that has been monitoring all voting processes for around 20 years, expressed regret over not receiving the necessary accreditation to perform their monitoring role in this election. The organization also lamented the “deterioration of electoral governance in the country.”
The Independent Electoral Commission stated that the provisional results should be announced between January 15th and 19th. If a second round is required, it will be held on February 25th.
