Indian Ocean Island Nation of Comoros Votes for President in Africa’s First Election of 2024

FILE - Comoros’ President Azali Assoumani attends a news conference during the G20 Investment Summit - German Business and the CwA Countries on the sidelines of a Compact with Africa in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Nov. 20, 2023. People in the Indian Ocean island nation of Comoros are voting for president in Africa’s first national election of 2024. Incumbent President Azali Assoumani, a former military officer, is expected to win a fourth term amid criticism that he has become increasingly authoritarian and cracked down on his political opposition. Five opposition candidates are standing against Assoumani in Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024’s election. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

BY GERALD IMRAY

7:12 AM EST, January 14, 2024

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — The Indian Ocean Island nation of Comoros voted Sunday for president in Africa’s first national election of 2024.

Incumbent President Azali Assoumani, a former military officer, is expected to win a fourth term despite criticism he has become increasingly authoritarian and cracked down on his opponents.

Five opposition candidates stood against Assoumani while other opposition parties have called for a boycott, accusing the national electoral commission of bias. The commission denied the accusations. Provisional results are expected on Friday.

The country of around 800,000 people off East Africa has experienced a series of coups since it gained independence from France in 1975. The first coup came just a month after independence.

Assoumani, 65, took charge himself in a coup in 1999, and was first elected president in 2002. He stepped down after one term but returned to reclaim the presidency in an election in 2016, and was reelected in 2019. Presidential terms are for five years.

Assoumani succeeded in side-stepping term limits by changing the constitution in 2018. Previously, the presidency was rotated after a single term between Comoros’ three main islands of Grand Comore, Anjouan, and Moheli.

The move to change the constitution caused mass protests against Assoumani and an armed uprising by rebels on the island of Anjouan, which the army quelled after days of fighting. Protests have been regularly banned since then.

Former President Ahmed Abdallah Sambi, a political rival of Assoumani, was sentenced to life in prison in 2022 on charges of high treason over the forgery and illegal selling of Comoros passports.

The Africa Center for Strategic Studies, a research institution within the U.S. Department of Defense that’s funded by Congress, said Assoumani’s latest presidential term has been “marked by crackdowns on dissent.”

It noted curtailments on press freedom and opposition leaders being threatened and detained by police and the army.

Assoumani is coming to the end of a one-year term as chairperson of the African Union, a largely ceremonial role that moves around the continent.

Sunday’s election in Comoros will be notable for France because of its island territory of Mayotte, which lies about 100 kilometers (62 miles) to the southeast. Mayotte has seen an influx of immigrants from Comoros.

Comoros is one of over 50 countries that go to the polls in 2024 to test democracy across the globe.