Azali Assoumani, incumbent president of the Comoros and presidential candidate of the Comoros Renewal Congress (CRC) party, votes at Mituje public school polling station in Moroni on January 14, 2024. (Photo via OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT/AFP) ) Getty Images)
Comorians voted in the presidential election on Sunday, with incumbent Azali Assoumani saying he was confident of victory and opposition parties claiming election fraud.
Several opposition figures in the Indian Ocean island have called on voters to boycott the vote, where five candidates are vying for the top spot with Mr. Assoumani, 65.
“I am confident that we will win in the first round. God and the people of Comoros will decide,” the president said after voting in his hometown of Mituuge, on the outskirts of the capital Moroni.
“Winning in the first round will save you time and money,” he added.
But opposition candidates accused “fraud” and “stuffing of ballot boxes” in some regions after voting started late.
“Just like in 2019, we are witnessing election fraud by Azali al-Asoumani with the collusion of the military,” Muini Baraka Soirich told a press conference along with four other opposition candidates.
Mr. Assoumani, who has jailed some critics and sent others into exile, denied reports of fraud since the polls began, saying he had “never heard of them.”
“We need proof,” he said, adding that bad weather was to blame for the poor turnout.
According to AFP, vote counting begins in the evening after polling stations close, sometimes by candlelight, such as in La Coule, northern Moroni, and under close police supervision. It was conducted.
Rapper Sheikh MC, who was there watching the count, said he was unimpressed by the proceedings.
“For me, this is not an election. We are witnessing a dangerous match that could explode.”
The president's campaign chief, Homed Misaidi, denied election fraud and accused the opposition of being “petty and conspiratorial.”
The full results of Sunday's vote are expected to be published later this week.
Several polling stations in the rainy capital had previously faced delays, opening after the scheduled start time of 7am (4pm Japan time).
“Broadcast stations often start late,” an African Union monitor told AFP.
Assomani has been in power since 2016, extending his tenure through a controversial 2018 constitutional referendum that removed presidential term limits.
The president's closest rival and popular predecessor, Ahmed Abdallah Sanbi, was sentenced to life in prison for high treason in November 2022.
Delays in releasing voter lists have raised suspicions of election fraud, and opposition leaders said many people were left unsure where to vote.
“We are objecting to the unfair nomination of polling workers, all of whom are supporters of the ruling party,” Latouf Abdou of the opposition Juwa party told AFP.
Jwaa's Jafar El Mansoib said opposition observers were being prevented from accessing polling stations in Anjouan, their traditional stronghold.
Security has been stepped up in the run-up to polling day, with some civil society groups saying they are deploying observers at polling stations to “guard” ballots.
'We're lucky'
About 340,000 people had the right to vote in the Muslim-majority country, which declared independence from France in 1975. According to World Bank statistics, 45 percent of the country's 900,000 people live below the poverty line.
Open protests are rare on the country's three islands, and Mr Assoumani's supporters hope for a repeat of the 2019 vote, when he won with 60% of the vote in the first round. .
If no presidential candidate wins outright, a second round of voting will be scheduled for February 25th.
“In some countries, people are born and die without watching an election,” said Asnawi Mohamed, a 41-year-old engineer. “We're lucky to have elections.”
An estimated 300,000 Comorians have immigrated to France, but despite promises from authorities, they were not allowed to vote in presidential elections again.
According to the World Bank, total remittances from the diaspora amounted to more than 20% of the archipelago's GDP in 2022.
Assomani first came to power in a 1999 coup and returned to power in the 2016 election. In recent months, he has made a series of promises, including promises to improve roads and hospitals.
© Agence France-Presse
