Guelleh re-elected for a fifth term as Djibouti president

Djiboutian strongman Ismael Omar Guelleh will serve for the fifth term as president of the tiny Horn of Africa nation, making him one of the longest-serving African presidents, in a country where democracy is said to be utopian.

According to provision results projected by AFP following Friday's elections, Guelleh, who was first handpicked as president in 1999, garnered close to 98 percent of the votes cast, in an election that was widely boycotted by opposition candidates who questioned the credibility.

By estimate, around 215,000 citizens were registered to vote on the ballot pitting Guelleh, 73, against a little-known businessman widely seen as posing a scant threat to the strongman, who has been in power since 1999.

Counting started shortly after polling stations closed around 7:00 pm in the Horn of Africa nation, which overlooks one of the world's busiest trade routes at the crossroads between Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.

"President Ismail Omar Guelleh obtained 167,535 votes, which is 98.58 percent," Interior Minister Moumin Ahmed Cheick told public broadcaster RTD early Saturday, adding that confirmed results would be released soon by the Constitutional Council.

According to many independent election observers, the process went smoothly, with no reports of misconduct. Earlier, after voting in the capital where most of Djibouti's one million people reside, Guelleh praised the trouble-free conduct of the electoral exercise.

Dressed in immaculate white traditional robes, he said he was "very, very confident" of victory, after placing his vote in a transparent ballot box.

President Ismael Omar Guelleh faced just one challenger -- political newcomer Zakaria Ismail Farah -- after Djibouti's main opposition parties boycotted the election.

Farah, a 56-year-old cleaning products importer, ended up with under 5,000 votes, according to the provisional results. Farah cast doubt on the transparency of the voting process, saying his delegates were not present at polling stations.

"My vote is of no use, nor are the votes of 80 percent of the Djiboutian people," the opposition candidate told AFP in a text message.

Guelleh was first elected as President in 1999 as the handpicked successor to his uncle, Hassan Guled Abtidon, who had ruled Djibouti since independence in 1977. The country was colonized by France, and French is widely used as the official language.

GAROWE ONLINE