Djiboutian presidential election, 2005

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The 2005 Djiboutian presidential election took place on the 8 April 2005. The incumbent President of Djibouti, Ismail Omar Guelleh, was re-elected to a second six-year term in an unopposed election.

Djibouti Country in Africa

Djibouti is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, and Somalia in the southeast. The remainder of the border is formed by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden at the east. Djibouti occupies a total area of 23,200 km2 (8,958 sq mi).

A term of office is the length of time a person serves in a particular elected office. In many jurisdictions there is a defined limit on how long terms of office may be before the officeholder must be subject to re-election. Some jurisdictions exercise term limits, setting a maximum number of terms an individual may hold in a particular office.

Contents

Background

Hassan Gouled Aptidon was president of Djibouti from independence in 1977 until he stepped down in 1999. He had reintroduced multi-party democracy in 1992 under international pressure, [1] but the 1999 presidential election saw Aptidon's nephew, Ismail Omar Guelleh, elected with 74% of the vote. [2] The last parliamentary elections in 2003 saw Guelleh's political party, the Union for a Presidential Majority win all 65 seats in an election the opposition claimed saw significant rigging. [1] [3]

Hassan Gouled Aptidon President of Djibouti

Hassan Gouled Aptidon was the first President of Djibouti from 1977 to 1999.

Campaign

The main opposition parties in Djibouti did not put up a candidate in the presidential election and called on their supporters to boycott the election. [1] The only opposition candidate who had said they would stand in the election was Mohamed Daoud Chehem. However, on the 10 March 2005 he withdrew from the election as he said that he did not have enough money to take part in the election. [4] A statement from one opposition party on the 18 March said that "change through the ballot box is almost impossible in the Republic of Djibouti". [1]

Mohamed Daoud Chehem is a senior civil servant, noted opposition leader and former presidential candidate for the Azuria Development Party (PDD) in Djibouti. Chehem is a member of the Afar ethnic group, and was part of the Afar rebel Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy (FRUD) opposition movement. In 1991, in a wave of mass arrests in the midst of a civil war between FRUD and Hassan Gouled Aptidon's oppressive regime, Chehem was imprisoned and tortured. Amnesty International, in a statement, said that prisoners like Chehem "may in fact be prisoners of conscience, imprisoned because of their opposition to the government rather than because there is any evidence that they participated in anti-government violence."^ In 1997 it was widely reported that Chehem along with five other FRUD members, was abducted from Ethiopia and given over to agents of Hassan Gouled Aptidon's regime. Chehem was again subjected to torture and the political prisoners' plight became the subject of campaigns by Amnesty International and other human rights groups.^ In addition, United Nations Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights, Nigel S. Rodley sent an urgent request for their release to Aptidon's government.^

Despite having no opponents President Guelleh campaigned strongly in the run up to the election. He held rallies in the evenings and pledged to reduce poverty, increase women's rights and improve the transparency of the government. He also accused the opposition of being afraid to stand against him and said that he regretted having no opponent in the election. [5] [6]

Poverty state of one who lacks a certain amount of material possessions or money

Poverty is the scarcity or the lack of a certain (variant) amount of material possessions or money. Poverty is a multifaceted concept, which may include social, economic, and political elements. Absolute poverty, extreme poverty, or destitution refers to the complete lack of the means necessary to meet basic personal needs such as food, clothing and shelter.

Womens rights rights claimed for women and girls worldwide

Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide, and formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the nineteenth century and feminist movement during the 20th century. In some countries, these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behavior, whereas in others they are ignored and suppressed. They differ from broader notions of human rights through claims of an inherent historical and traditional bias against the exercise of rights by women and girls, in favor of men and boys.

On the day of the election itself there was a protest against the election which was broken up by the police firing tear gas. [5] The official news agency of Djibouti reported that there was a high turnout of over 70% of voters in the election, however members of the opposition said that this was incorrect. [7]

Tear gas non-lethal chemical weapon

Tear gas, formally known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator, sometimes colloquially known as mace, is a chemical weapon that causes severe eye and respiratory pain, skin irritation, bleeding, and even blindness. In the eye, it stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland to produce tears. Common lachrymators include pepper spray, PAVA spray (nonivamide), CS gas, CR gas, CN gas, bromoacetone, xylyl bromide, syn-propanethial-S-oxide, and Mace, and household vinegar.

News agency organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations

A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and radio and television broadcasters. A news agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswire, or news service.

Voter turnout percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election

Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election. Eligibility varies by country, and the voting-eligible population should not be confused with the total adult population. Age and citizenship status are often among the criteria used to determine eligibility, but some countries further restrict eligibility based on sex, race, or religion.

Election results

e  •  d  Summary of the 8 April 2005 Djibouti presidential election results
Candidates - Nominating partiesVotes%
Ismail Omar Guelleh - People's Rally for Progress 144,433100.00
Total valid votes (turnout 71.7%) 144,433100.00
Invalid votes4,692
Total votes149,125
Registered voters208,098
Source: African Elections Database

Aftermath

President Guelleh was sworn in as President for a second term on 9 May 2005 and pledged to increase economic development in Djibouti. [8]

Economic development is the process by which a nation improves the economic, political, and social well-being of its people. The term has been used frequently by economists, politicians, and others in the 20th and 21st centuries. The concept, however, has been in existence in the West for centuries. "Modernization, "westernization", and especially "industrialization" are other terms often used while discussing economic development. Economic development has a direct relationship with the environment and environmental issues. Economic development is very often confused with industrial development, even in some academic sources.

Related Research Articles

Politics of Djibouti

Politics of Djibouti takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the executive power is exercised by the President and the Government. Legislative power is vested in both the Government and the National Assembly. The party system and legislature are dominated by the socialist People's Rally for Progress. In April 2010, a new constitutional amendment was approved. The President serves as both the head of state and head of government, and is directly elected for single six-year term. Government is headed by the President, who appoints the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers on the proposal of the latter. There is also a 65-member chamber of deputies, where representatives are popularly elected for terms of five years. Administratively, the country is divided into five regions and one city, with eleven additional district subdivisions. Djibouti is also part of various international organisations, including the United Nations and Arab League.

Ismaïl Omar Guelleh President of Djibouti

Ismaïl Omar Guelleh is the current President of Djibouti, in office since 1999. He is often referred to in the region by his initials, IOG.

Dileita Mohamed Dileita Prime Minister of Djibouti

Dileita Mohamed Dileita is a Djiboutian politician who was the Prime Minister of Djibouti from 7 March 2001 to 1 April 2013. He was Vice-President of the People's Rally for Progress (RPP), the governing political party, until 2012. He also served as President of the Union for the Presidential Majority (UMP), the governing coalition. In June 2014, Dileita was appointed as the African Union's Special Envoy for Libya.

The People's Rally for Progress is a political party in Djibouti. It has dominated politics in the country since 1979, initially under the rule of President Hassan Gouled Aptidon. Today it is led by President Ismail Omar Guelleh and is in a coalition government with Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy (FRUD) and other parties.

The National Democratic Party is a political party in Djibouti. It was founded as an opposition party in 1992 by Aden Robleh Awaleh, who remains the party's president. It was part of the ruling coalition in 2005, but has since rejoined the opposition against President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh.

Elections in Djibouti

National-level elections in Djibouti are held for the President and the unicameral National Assembly.

Aden Robleh Awaleh is a Djiboutian politician and President of the National Democratic Party (PND). He is currently a member of the National Assembly of Djibouti.

2003 Djiboutian parliamentary election

The 2003 Djiboutian parliamentary election took place in Djibouti on 10 January 2003 to elect the National Assembly of Djibouti. The ruling coalition of President Ismail Omar Guelleh won all 65 seats in the election defeating an opposition coalition.

1999 Djiboutian presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Djibouti on 9 April 1999. Following the retirement of Hassan Gouled Aptidon, who had served as President since independence in 1977, his nephew Ismail Omar Guelleh won the nomination of the ruling People's Rally for Progress. His only opponent was Ahmed-Idriss Moussa who ran as an independent, with the support of the National Democratic Party-Democratic Renewal Party coalition. The result was victory for Guelleh, who won 74% of the vote.

2011 Djiboutian presidential election

Voters in Djibouti re-elected President Ismail Omar Guelleh by an 80% margin in that nation's April 8, 2011 presidential election. He defeated Mohamed Warsama Ragueh, an attorney and former judge who took 19% of the vote.

2011 Djiboutian protests protest

The 2011 Djiboutian protests were widespread demonstrations and riots that took place between January and March 2011 in Djibouti, situated in the Horn of Africa. A member of the Arab League, the protests in Djibouti showed a clear influence from the concurrent Arab Spring protests in North Africa and the Arabian peninsula. The demonstrations ended after mass arrests and the barring of international observers.

Ahmed-Idriss Moussa is a politician from Djibouti who served in the French National Assembly from 1962-1967. An independent, he was the main opposition candidate in the 1999 presidential election against President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh.

Human rights in Djibouti

The issue of human rights in Djibouti, a small country situated within the Horn of Africa, is a matter of concern for several human rights organizations. In its 2011 Freedom in the World report, Freedom House ranked Djibouti as "Not Free", a downgrading from its former status as "Partly Free". The nation most recently saw martial violence in 2008, in the form of border clashes with neighbouring Eritrea.

The following lists events that happened in 2005 in Djibouti.

2016 Djiboutian presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Djibouti on 8 April 2016. Incumbent President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh was re-elected for a fourth term, receiving 87% of the vote in the first round.

Mohamed Warsama Ragueh is a Djiboutian lawyer and former judge. He was the president of the Constitutional Council and a candidate in the 2011 presidential election.He could only secure 19% of the vote losing to Ismail Omar Guelleh who won 80% of the votes. cast Djibouti's opposition coalitions boycotted the election, saying it would not be free and fair, leaving only President Guelleh and Ragueh, who had served as President of Djibouti's Constitutional Council in 2005. Ragueh complained about irregularities in the voting.

Freedom of the press in Djibouti is not specifically mentioned by the country's constitution. However, Article 15 of the Constitution of Djibouti] does mention an individual's right to express their opinion "...by word, pen, or image..." and notes that "these rights may be limited by prescriptions in the law and in respect for the honour of others."

The First Lady of Djibouti is the spouse of the President of Djibouti. The present first lady is Kadra Mahamoud Haid, wife of President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh. Guelleh assumed office on 8 May 1999.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "DJIBOUTI: No challengers for Guelleh as presidential campaign kicks off". IRIN . 2005-03-29. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
  2. ↑ "Elections in Djibouti". African Elections Database. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
  3. ↑ "Djibouti's Leader Wins Uncontested Vote". The New York Times . 2005-04-09. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
  4. ↑ "Clear run for Djibouti's leader". BBC Online . 2005-03-10. Retrieved 2009-02-19.
  5. 1 2 "Djibouti leader wins one-man poll". BBC Online . 2005-04-09. Retrieved 2009-02-19.
  6. ↑ "Violence Mars Voting in Djibouti". ArabNews . 2005-04-09. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
  7. ↑ "Djibouti incumbent wins one-man poll". afrol . 2005-04-12. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
  8. ↑ "DJIBOUTI: Guelleh sworn in for second presidential term". IRIN . 2005-05-09. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
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