Comoros opposition candidate seeks annulment of vote
Published: 05:01 PM,Jan 20,2024 | EDITED : 09:01 PM,Jan 20,2024
Security forces face opposition demonstrators throwing stones at them in Moroni, following the announcement of the presidential election results. — AFP file photo
MORONI: An opposition candidate in the Comoros on Saturday filed a suit seeking the annulment of the Indian Ocean nation's recent vote in which the president was controversially re-elected, sparking deadly protests.
The opposition had urged people across the island chain to block roads to denounce President Azali Assoumani's 'electoral masquerade', but the protest call went unheeded.
Police and soldiers were deployed around the medina market area on key junctions, some of them hooded or wearing surgical masks to hide their identities.
Assoumani's victory is expected to be confirmed by the supreme court at the weekend after the electoral commission declared he had won more than 60 per cent of the ballots in Sunday's first-round vote.
Speaking outside the supreme court Daoudou Abdallah Mohamed, a former interior minister and a candidate from the Orange opposition party, said the election commission had 'published fabricated results'.
'I have proof of ballot box stuffing,' he said. 'My plea is for the results to be annulled and for new elections to be held.'
The Comoros capital Moroni had been paralysed by two days of running street-battles between stone-throwing youths and armed soldiers after the vote.
The government spokesman welcomed the move.
'One cannot transform the street into a court,' spokesman Houmed Msaidie said. 'If the court says we haven't won, then we haven't.'
At least one person was fatally wounded, according to medics.
According to the official tally, 189,497 Comorans voted for governors on each of the archipelago's three islands, but only 55,258 cast a vote for president.
Assoumani is a 65-year-old former military ruler turned civilian president, who critics accuse of jailing opponents to extend his grip on power.
On Friday, the US Embassy in Moroni expressed concern about the results and urged the electoral commission to 'clarify' them before they are validated by the supreme court.
The embassy said the results announced by the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) raise 'serious concerns that must be addressed to maintain the peace and the well-being of the nation'.
'We call on the CENI, and Comoran authorities, to ensure full transparency and clarify the results it announced,' the embassy said.
France, which was the islands' colonial power until independence in 1975, also expressed concern, urging 'all Comoran actors to favour restraint and dialogue'.
The UN and the EU have previously called for calm. — AFP
The opposition had urged people across the island chain to block roads to denounce President Azali Assoumani's 'electoral masquerade', but the protest call went unheeded.
Police and soldiers were deployed around the medina market area on key junctions, some of them hooded or wearing surgical masks to hide their identities.
Assoumani's victory is expected to be confirmed by the supreme court at the weekend after the electoral commission declared he had won more than 60 per cent of the ballots in Sunday's first-round vote.
Speaking outside the supreme court Daoudou Abdallah Mohamed, a former interior minister and a candidate from the Orange opposition party, said the election commission had 'published fabricated results'.
'I have proof of ballot box stuffing,' he said. 'My plea is for the results to be annulled and for new elections to be held.'
The Comoros capital Moroni had been paralysed by two days of running street-battles between stone-throwing youths and armed soldiers after the vote.
The government spokesman welcomed the move.
'One cannot transform the street into a court,' spokesman Houmed Msaidie said. 'If the court says we haven't won, then we haven't.'
At least one person was fatally wounded, according to medics.
According to the official tally, 189,497 Comorans voted for governors on each of the archipelago's three islands, but only 55,258 cast a vote for president.
Assoumani is a 65-year-old former military ruler turned civilian president, who critics accuse of jailing opponents to extend his grip on power.
On Friday, the US Embassy in Moroni expressed concern about the results and urged the electoral commission to 'clarify' them before they are validated by the supreme court.
The embassy said the results announced by the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) raise 'serious concerns that must be addressed to maintain the peace and the well-being of the nation'.
'We call on the CENI, and Comoran authorities, to ensure full transparency and clarify the results it announced,' the embassy said.
France, which was the islands' colonial power until independence in 1975, also expressed concern, urging 'all Comoran actors to favour restraint and dialogue'.
The UN and the EU have previously called for calm. — AFP