Indian Ocean Island Nation Comoros Holds Presidential Election

Comoros, the Indian Ocean island nation, marked the beginning of Africa’s 2024 election season with a presidential vote on Sunday. Incumbent President Azali Assoumani, a former military officer, seeks to secure his fourth term in office, despite facing criticism for his increasingly authoritarian rule and the suppression of political opponents.

Assoumani faces competition from five opposition candidates, while some opposition parties have called for a boycott, accusing the national electoral commission of bias. However, the commission has refuted these allegations, and provisional results are expected to be announced on Friday.

Comoros, with a population of around 800,000 people, has a tumultuous political history, characterised by a series of coups since gaining independence from France in 1975. The first coup occurred just a month after achieving independence.

President Assoumani, now 65 years old, initially seized power in a coup in 1999 and was first elected president in 2002. After serving one term, he stepped down but returned to the presidency following an election in 2016 and was reelected in 2019. Presidential terms in Comoros are five years long.

Assoumani managed to bypass term limits by amending the constitution in 2018. Previously, the presidency rotated among the country’s three main islands: Grand Comore, Anjouan, and Moheli. The move to change the constitution led to mass protests and an armed uprising on the island of Anjouan, which was eventually quelled by the military. Subsequently, protests have been regularly banned.

Former President Ahmed Abdallah Sambi, a political rival of Assoumani, received a life sentence in 2022 on charges of high treason for his involvement in the forgery and illegal sale of Comoros passports.

The Africa Center for Strategic Studies, a research institution within the U.S. Department of Defense, has noted that Assoumani’s current term has been marked by crackdowns on dissent, including restrictions on press freedom and the detention and intimidation of opposition leaders by security forces.

Apart from domestic concerns, this election in Comoros holds significance for France due to its island territory of Mayotte, located about 100 kilometres (62 miles) southeast of Comoros. Mayotte has experienced an influx of immigrants from Comoros.