Comoros opposition challenges president's reelection for 5th term in top court

By Andrew Wasike

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) – The main opposition party in the Comoros challenged President Azali Assoumani's reelection for his fourth five-year term in the top court on Saturday, alleging electoral fraud in the presidential elections held on Jan. 14.

The elections were not free, fair, or transparent, and there were numerous instances of electoral fraud that tainted the voting process, Orange Party leader Daoudou Abdallah Mohamed told the media outside the Supreme Court of the Union of the Comoros, after filing his petition.

Since Wednesday, when the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) announced Assoumani's reelection after receiving 62.97% of all votes cast in the East African country off the eastern coast of the Indian Ocean, violent protests have erupted.

The official results show that only 16.3% of the 340,000 registered voters cast their ballots owing to a boycott call by his four rival candidates, including the Orange Party leader.

After the electoral body announcement, protesters attacked a police station, looted a government official's home, and set fire to cars. One protester was killed, and dozens more were admitted to El Maarouf Hospital with gunshot wounds.

The widespread violence prompted the Interior Minister on Thursday to impose a nationwide curfew.

To quell the violent protest, the Interior Ministry declared a nationwide curfew on Thursday.

In his petition, Orange Party leader Mohamed pleaded with the Supreme Court to annul the elections due to election malpractice and order the electoral authority to hold fresh elections.

"The elections were tarnished by fraudulent activities, undermining the very essence of a free and fair democratic process," he told reporters.

Assoumani, 65, a former military officer who first came to power in a 1999 coup, has now served two non-consecutive terms as president, from 2002 to 2006 and from 2016 to the present.

The 2018 constitutional referendum that paved the way for his potential re-election was deeply divisive, with critics accusing him of undermining the power-sharing agreement among Comoros' three main islands.