Presidential elections were held in

Djibouti Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east. The country has an area ...

on 8 April 2005. The incumbent President of

, Ismail Omar Guelleh, was re-elected to a second six-year term in an unopposed election.

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, but the 1999 presidential election saw Aptidon's nephew, Ismail Omar Guelleh, elected with 74% of the vote. 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

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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. 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. 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". 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 Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse Biophysical environmen ...

, increase

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

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. On the day of the election itself there was a protest against the election which was broken up by the police firing

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. The official

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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.

Results

Aftermath

Guelleh was sworn in as President for a second term on 9 May 2005 and pledged to increase

economic development In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...

in Djibouti.

References

{{Djiboutian elections Presidential elections in Djibouti

Single-candidate elections President