The Juwa Party (french: Parti Juwa, PJ, "Sun Party") is a political party in the

Comoros The Comoros,, ' officially the Union of the Comoros,; ar, الاتحاد القمري ' is an independent country made up of three islands in southeastern Africa, located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean. It ...

. The party was established by former president

Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi Sayyid Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi ( ar, أحمد عبدالله محمد سامبي, born 5 June 1958) is a Comorian Islamic leader and politician, and former President of Comoros. He is popularly known as 'Ayatollah'. After easily winning the ...

in 2013 and became the main opposition party in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

. After boycotting the 2020 elections, it currently has no representation in parliament.

History

The party was established on 30 October 2013 by former President

; "Juwa" is the Comorian word for "Sun". In the 2015 parliamentary elections it emerged as the second-largest faction in the

Assembly of the Union The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw ( my, ပြည်ထောင်စု လွှတ်တော် lit. Assembly of the Union) is the ''de jure'' national-level bicameral legislature of Myanmar (officially known as the ''Republic of the Union of My ...

, winning seven of the 24 directly-elected seats. The party did not contest the

2016 presidential elections This national electoral calendar for 2016 lists the national/federal elections held in 2016 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *7 January: Kir ...

. In the 2019 presidential election, the Juwa Party candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Soulé was disqualified on the grounds that his application form was signed by the deputy secretary-general of the party and not the secretary-general of the party, Ahmed Al Barwane, who was in prison. Following the verdict, the party lent its support to independent candidate Mahamoudo Ahamada. Ahamada finished second with 15% of the vote, with President

Azali Assoumani Azali Assoumani ( ar, غزالي عثماني; born 1 January 1959) is a Comorian politician and military officer who has served as President of the Comoros since April 2019. He was also president from 2002 to 2006 and 2016 to February 2019. He ...

winning with 61%. Violent protests after the election, whose leaders included Juwa party members, were violently dispersed by the army. Ahamada subsequently became joint leader of the party with Sambi. The Juwa Party and other opposition parties boycotted the 2020 parliamentary elections, claiming they had not obtained guarantees of a 'transparent, free and democratic' election, or the right of Comorian expatriates to vote.

References

Political parties in the Comoros 2013 establishments in the Comoros Political parties established in 2013 {{Comoros-stub