Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Djibouti's president wins unprecedented sixth term with 97.8% of vote
Surrounded by Somalia, Ethiopia, and the Red Sea, the Republic of Djibouti
is a small country in the Horn of Africa with a population of around one
million. It became independent from French rule in 1977. Since 1999, the Islamic
country has been ruled by the same president, Ismail Omar Guelleh, who was just
reelected this month after the previous reelections in 2005, 2011, 2016, and 2021.
The election saw over 80% turnout, with 98% voting for the incumbent president,
who scrapped term limits in the 2010 constitutional reform. Last year, the
parliament passed a bill lifting age limits for the presidency, allowing
Guelleh to run for his sixth term at the age of 78. He isn’t the only leader
who was democratically elected with an overwhelming majority. Russian President
Vladimir Putin received 87% ovtes in the 2024 election, Belarusian President
Alexander Lukashenko won 80 percent of the vote in 2020, Syria’s Bashar
al-Assad won 95% in his last election in 2021, and several other leaders in African
and Central Asian countries won over 90% votes. Were their challengers so
unpopular or removed?
Read the article and learn about another overwhelming victory of Djibouti’s
2nd president.
No comments:
Post a Comment