Djibouti’s President Ismail Omar Guelleh won a fifth five-year term on Saturday. Veteran ruler Ismail Guelleh is now confirmed as President for another term with final results showing he won over 97% of votes, according to final figures
This result represent his highest score since entering politics in 1999 when he took over from the country’s first president.
Out of the 990,000 people in the country, only 215,000 Djiboutians registered to vote in Friday’s election.
Guellehs’ main challenger was little-known businessman Zakaria Ismaïl Farah, who won just 2% of the vote.
Many celebrated his win as Guelleh is seen as a beacon of stability for some. Djibouti has remained stable in a volatile area, neighbouring Somalia and opposite Yemen.
The country has taken advantage of its geographical position and has invested heavily in ports and logistics infrastructure.
“We are all so happy, we vote 100% IOG, we support the president. We went early morning to the polling stations and we all agree,” said retailer Halima Bourhan Ali.
Others are critical of the President who along with his family has ruled with an iron fist. They believed the country has seen an erosion of press freedom and a crackdown on dissent under his administration.
A taxi driver ,Mahamoud Youssouf Ali, expressed his dissatisfaction about the result, He said: “We can’t say he is a president, a president organises good elections, this was not an election,”
“We are entering a period of five years of problems, more than ever, five years of problems, five years of unemployment, five years of fraud, five years where we will be put down.”