Presidential Election, 14 January 2024

The Union of Comoros held presidential and gubernatorial (governor) elections on 14 January 2024. The President is directly elected by plurality vote in up to two rounds. In accordance with a controversial 2018  constitutional referendum, the presidency rotates between the islands of Comoros, but now a president’s five-year term is renewable once (consecutive) (IFES 2024; International IDEA n.d.).

The election management bodies of Comoros are: the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), the National Press and Audiovisual Council (CNPA), the Supreme Court, the Ministry of the Interior—responsible for the electoral register—and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. CENI has branches per island (three) and municipal constituencies (54) (AU/EASF 2024).

An estimated 300,000 Comorans who have emigrated to France were informed that they would be able to participate but, as previously, could not do so. There were about 340,000 eligible in-country voters (Le Monde/AFP 2024). According to African Union and other regional observers, an overhaul of the 2018 voter register was 70 per cent complete, with 31,000 registered voters added as of July 2023 (AU/EASF 2024).

On election day, there were complaints about the delayed opening of voting locations and early closure of voting polls. Additionally, some polling locations were moved without previous notification (RFI 2024). There were reports of internet outages on election day preventing voters from accessing or sharing information (AccessNow n.d.). After the election, violent protests broke out in the capital Moroni. The government imposed a night-time curfew and deployed the army. In response the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights appealed for calm and for restraint on the part of the authorities (Fabricius 2024; UN OHCHR 2024).

Following the election women held 15.2% of seats in parliament, whereas before 16.7% were occupied by women. Comoros is ranked 143 for women’s representation in lower/single house (IPU 2024).

When Electoral Commission announced that President Azali Assoumani was re-elected for a fourth term (a first-round victory, with 62.97 per cent vote share), there were accusations of electoral fraud through ballot stuffing.  According to the EMB voter turnout was 56.44 per cent (CENI 2024), but news outlets reported turnout being as low as 16 per cent (Fabricius 2024; Aradi 2024). Factoring into turnout was low public confidence in the integrity of the electoral process, a recent history of electoral boycotts and repressive policies (RFI 2024; Africa Center for Strategic Studies 2024).