Election day in the Comoros, this Sunday, January 14, where 338,000 voters out of a population of 836,000 people are called to the polls to elect their governors and especially their president. Azali Assoumani, in power since 2016, is seeking a new term. Facing him, five opposition candidates. The voting day took place in a climate of great tension.
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With our special envoy to Moroni, David Bache
For this first round of elections, the voting day was marked by a certain number of dysfunctions. Polling stations generally opened at least an hour and a half late as ballot boxes and election materials were not delivered on time. Some polling stations were moved at the last minute, without official justification, and disoriented voters could be seen wondering where they should vote.
Few voters
Between these difficulties and the rain which poured down all morning, there were relatively few voters at the polling stations this morning. Despite the climate of distrust, some demonstrate their confidence in the electoral process, while opposition candidates complain of not being represented in the polling stations.
They claim that their representatives were generally refused access to polling stations on the three islands of Grande Comore, Anjouan and Mohéli. This is what certain candidates have assured, directly, or members of their campaign team.
Everything revolved around the question of their accreditations, which they had received late. The Independent National Electoral Commission (Céni) therefore accepted, on Friday January 12, an arrangement to circumvent certain legal provisions and allow opposition representatives to access polling stations with documents which were not those initially planned. The problem is that this hasn’t worked in practice, at least not always.
“ Massive fraud » says the opposition
The opposition denounces a “ strategy planned from the start “, of the ” ballot box stuffing » and speaks of “ massive fraud “. The Comorian Minister of the Interior, in charge of elections. Fakridine Mahamoud was in front of a polling station at the Island Council, in the center of the capital, Moroni, where, precisely, tempers were heating up around this question.
“The problem that arises is that there is a space problem. We can’t fit eighteen people into an office. So, what those in charge of the polling stations asked was that they be able to return, each in turn.
Fakridine Mahamoud, Minister of the Interior of the Comoros
Polling stations are open until 6:00 p.m. local time, 3:00 p.m. UT and according to the official schedule, the results will be announced no earlier than tomorrow evening, Monday January 15, no later than five days after the vote.
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