Former coup leader elected Comoros president in re-run

MRAMANI, Comoros, Thursday

Former coup leader Azali Assoumani was elected president of Comoros today, according to official provisional results, after an earlier poll had to be partially rerun due to violence and “irregularities”.

Colonel Assoumani defeated Vice President Mohamed Ali Soilihi to become the leader the east African archipelago nation in April, but a court ordered that 13 polling stations vote again after accusations of stuffing of ballots, breaking of boxes, and interruptions in voting.

He won again by 2,271 votes to 1,308, the electoral commission said, increasing the lead he took last month.

Two per cent of the electorate needed to vote again Wednesday, with hundreds of people waiting in line during the day as armed security forces stood guard to ensure polling was smooth.

“We did not vote last time but today the military are protecting me and my blind husband,” Boueni Aboudou told AFP.

According to the country’s Chief of Staff Youssouf Idjihadi, the army deployed 200 soldiers in Anjouan, one of three main Comoros islands.

In Mramani in the south, where voting had to be discontinued last month after a crush of voters, as many as 100 armed soldiers stood guard outside five polling stations located in a school, according to an AFP journalist. Polls closed at 1500GMT and voting passed off without any major incidents, according to an AFP journalist. The colonel’s inauguration is scheduled for May 26.

Col Assoumani took 40.98 per cent of the nationwide vote in April, just ahead of Mohamed Ali Soilihi, the ruling party’s presidential candidate, who picked up 39.87 per cent. Mr Soilihi, who is known as Mamadou, said he rejected the earlier result.

Assoumani first came to power in 1999 after ousting acting president Tadjidine Ben Said Massounde in a coup. He then won the presidential election three years later and stepped down when his term ended in 2006.