Djibouti set for polls as Guelleh eyes fifth term bid

The Horn of Africa nation Djibouti ,is warming up for general elections on Friday as President Ismail Omar Guelleh sets to extend his two-decade rule.

A businessman specialised in the importation of cleaning products, Farah, 56, is seen by observers as unlikely to pose a significant challenge to the strongman who has been in power for 22 years.

Guelleh, 73, is facing political newcomer Zakaria Ismail Farah, his only rival after traditional opposition parties decided to boycott the election.
Djibouti is largely a desert country strategically situated on one of the world’s busiest trade routes and at the crossroads between Africa and the Arabian peninsula, a short distance from war-torn Yemen.

Under Guelleh, the country has exploited this geographical advantage, investing heavily in ports and logistics infrastructure.
At the same time the country has seen an erosion of press freedom and a crackdown on dissent.
Guelleh’s predicted fifth term will be his last, under a 2010 constitutional reform which scrapped term limits while also introducing an age limit of 75 which would lock him out of future elections.
Djibouti’s election campaigns came as the country saw Covid-19 infection rates soar by 38 percent in the past week, with some 200 cases a day in the country of almost one million people.