Presidential elections were held in the Comoros on 7 November 2010, with a second round on 26 December, alongside gubernatorial elections for the three main islands. The result was a victory for

Ikililou Dhoinine Ikililou Dhoinine (, born 14 August 1962) is a Comorian politician who was the President of the Comoros from 2011 to 2016; he was a Vice-President of Comoros from 2006 to 2011. Political career Dhoinine won the 2010 Comorian presidential elect ...

, who received 61% of the vote.

Background

There had been an attempt to delay the elections until 27 November 2011 and extend the presidential term until then. However, the Constitutional Court ruled this unconstitutional in May 2010.

Electoral system

In Comoros, the presidency rotates every four years between the federation's three constituent islands:

Anjouan Anjouan (; also known as Ndzuwani or Nzwani, and historically as Johanna or Hinzuan) is an autonomous high island in the Indian Ocean that forms part of the Union of the Comoros. Its chief town is Mutsamudu and, , its population is around 277,500 ...

Mohéli Mohéli , also known as Mwali, is an autonomous island that forms part of the Union of the Comoros. It is the smallest of the three major islands in the country. It is located in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa and it is the smallest of ...

and

Grande Comore Grande Comore () is an island in Comoros off the coast of Africa. It is the largest island in the Comoros nation. Most of its population is of the Comorian ethnic group. Its population is about 316,600. The island's capital is Moroni, which is ...

. This rotation was Mohéli's turn to supply the president. Incumbent president

Ahmed Abdallah 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 ...

was from Anjouan, and was thus not able to stand as a candidate. The president was elected in two rounds; in the first round, voters in Mohéli voted in a

primary election Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

, with the top three candidates advancing to the second round, where a nationwide vote was carried out, with the winner decided by

plurality voting Plurality voting refers to electoral systems in which a candidate, or candidates, who poll more than any other counterpart (that is, receive a plurality (voting), plurality), are elected. In systems based on single-member districts, it elects j ...

Candidates

There were ten candidates in the presidential primary election. President Sambi supported his Vice President

. Another candidate from the Presidential Movement was Mohamed Larifou Oukacha, secretary-general of the presidency, showing a possible split in the Presidential faction. The other eight candidates were from the opposition. Among them were Mohamed Said Fazul, former governor of Mohéli, and Zahariat Saïd Ahmed, the sole female candidate.

Results

Ikililou Dhoinine, Mohamed Said Fazul and Bianrifi Tarmidhi received the most votes in the first round primary. However, Tarmidhi's total number of votes was cut down on 13 November by the constitutional court after it had decided to invalidate the ballots from several polling stations. This meant that, besides Dhoinine and Fazul,

Abdou Djabir Abdou Djabir Msada is a Comorian politician and civil servant. He ran for the Presidency of the Comoros in 2010 and finished in third place behind winner Ikililou Dhoinine. Djabir was born on the island of Mohéli and worked as a civil servant in ...

advanced to the second round.

References

{{Comorian elections Presidential elections in the Comoros Comoros 2010 in the Comoros