Overview
- State media said Saturday that Guelleh took 97.8% of votes, with turnout at 80.4%, giving him a sixth term.
- The race featured only Mohamed Farah Samatar from a small party, while major opposition groups have boycotted elections since 2016.
- Parliament lifted the 75-year age cap for candidates in late 2025, and lawmakers had already scrapped presidential term limits in 2010.
- Observers from the African Union, IGAD, the OIC and the League of Arab States monitored the vote, while rights groups say the polls are not free and critics report repression of dissent.
- Djibouti hosts U.S., Chinese, French, Italian and Japanese bases and serves as Ethiopia’s main sea outlet, as the IMF warned in 2025 that the country’s debt is in distress and unsustainable.