Parliamentary 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 February 2008."Début du vote avec retard pour les législatives"
AFP (Jeuneafrique.com), 8 February 2008. There were 65 candidates running for the 65 seats in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

, with all of the candidates coming from the ruling coalition, the Union for the Presidential Majority (UMP)."Djibouti votes amid opposition boycott"
AFP (''IOL''), February 8, 2008. The opposition boycotted the election, and the UMP won all 65 seats."Législatives à Djibouti: victoire du parti présidentiel, forte participation"
, AFP (Jeuneafrique.com), 9 February 2008 . In boycotting the election, the opposition complained that the electoral system guaranteed victory for the UMP; in the previous

parliamentary elections A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

in 2003, the UMP won all 65 seats despite the opposition receiving 38% of the vote. The opposition unsuccessfully demanded that

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

be introduced. Ismael Guedi Hared, a leader of the opposition Union for a Democratic Alternative, said that the country effectively had a one-party system, that "none of the democratic rules

ere Ere or ERE may refer to: * ''Environmental and Resource Economics'', a peer-reviewed academic journal * ERE Informatique, one of the first French video game companies * Ere language, an Austronesian language * Ebi Ere (born 1981), American-Nigeria ...

respected", and that the government was unwilling to accept proportional representation because it was fearful of discontent.

Background

In a decree on 26 December 2007, President

Ismail Omar Guelleh In the biblical Book of Genesis, Ishmael (; ; ; ) is the first son of Abraham. His mother was Hagar, the handmaiden of Abraham's wife Sarah. He died at the age of 137. Traditionally, he is seen as the ancestor of the Arabs. Within Islam, Ishm ...

set the election date for 8 February 2008. Subsequently, in a presidential decree on 6 January 2008, campaigning was scheduled to begin at midnight on 25 January and run until midnight on 6 February."Décret n°2008-0001/PR/MID fixant la date d'ouverture et de fermeture de la campaqne électorale pour les élections législatives du 08 Février 2008."
, Journal Officiel de la République de Djibouti, 6 January 2008 . The newly formed

Arta Region Arta Region (, ) is one of the six regions of Djibouti. It was officially created in 2003 by the regrouping of sub-prefectures of the regions of Dikhil and Djibouti. It is situated in the south-central of the country, bordering the Tadjoura Regio ...

was represented as a separate constituency for the first time in the 2008 election. Three seats were at stake there.

Campaign

The UMP filed its list of candidates at the Interior Ministry on 10 January 2003. More than a third of its candidates were new,"14% de sièges aux femmes"
, ''La Nation'', 16 January 2008 . and nine of its candidates (14% of the total) were women.
In addition to the main governing party, the

People's Rally for Progress The People's Rally for Progress (; , RPP) is a political party in Djibouti. It has dominated politics in the country since 1979, initially under the rule of President Hassan Gouled Aptidon. Today it is led by President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh and is ...

(RPP), the UMP coalition included the National Democratic Party (PND), the moderate faction of the

Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy The Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy (, FRUD; ) is a political party in Djibouti. It is aligned with the interests of the Afar people who live in the country, although it has supporters residing outside of Djibouti. History Upr ...

(FRUD), the People's Social Democratic Party (PSD), and the Union of Reform Partisans (UPR). Prime Minister

Dileita Mohamed Dileita Dileita Mohamed Dileita (, ; born 12 March 1959''Profiles of People in Power: The World's Government Leaders'' (2003), page 142–143.Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

as an example to avoid. He did, however, say that it might be necessary to consider introducing proportional representation at some future time.

Conduct

The

African Union The African Union (AU) is a continental union of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the African Union. The b ...

and the

Arab League The Arab League (, ' ), officially the League of Arab States (, '), is a regional organization in the Arab world. The Arab League was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945, initially with seven members: Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt, Kingdom of Iraq, ...

observed the election and gave it a positive assessment. The Constitutional Council validated the results on 17 February, and the National Assembly met for the first session of its new term on 20 February, re-electing

Idriss Arnaoud Ali Idriss Arnaoud Ali (25 December 1945 – 12 February 2015) was a Djiboutian politician who was President of the National Assembly of Djibouti from 2003 to 2015. He was also the Secretary-General of the People's Rally for Progress (RPP) from 20 ...

as President of the National Assembly.

Results

Yacin Elmi Bouh Yacin Elmi Bouh (, ) is a Djiboutian politician. He was Minister of Economy and Finance from 1997 to 2005 and has been Minister of Interior and Decentralization since 22 May 2005. He was a candidate for the post of Vice-President of the Commis ...

, the Minister of the Interior, announced on 9 February that the UMP had won all 65 seats and placed turnout at 72.61%, which he said was the highest in 15 years. Out of 151,490 registered voters, 109,999 were said to have voted, with 103,463 votes in favor of the UMP and 6,536 null votes. However, the number of people registering to vote had been low.

References

{{Djiboutian elections Parliamentary elections in Djibouti

Parliamentary In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...