Early presidential elections were held in the

Comoros The Comoros, officially the Union of the Comoros, is an archipelagic country made up of three islands in Southeastern Africa, located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city is Moroni, ...

on 24 March 2019 alongside regional elections.Comoros: Presidential elections scheduled for March 2019
Garda World, 31 December 2018 A second round would have been held on 21 April if required, but incumbent President

Azali Assoumani Azali Assoumani (; born 1 January 1959) is a Comorian politician and military officer who has served as the seventh President of the Comoros from 2002 to 2006 and again since 2016, except for a brief period in 2019. He became head of state after ...

was re-elected in the first round of voting.

Electoral system

Until 2018, the

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

of the Comoros rotated between the country's three main islands;

Anjouan Anjouan () is an autonomous volcanic island in the Comoro Islands in the southwestern Indian Ocean, part of the Comoros, Union of the Comoros. It is known in Comorian languages, Shikomori as Ndzuani, Ndzuwani or Nzwani, and, until the early twentie ...

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 i ...

and

Mohéli Mohéli , also known as Mwali, is an autonomously-governed 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 ...

. The 2010 elections were limited to Mohélian candidates and the

2016 elections Africa Benin Republic *2016 Beninese presidential election 6 March 2016 Cape Verde * 2016 Cape Verdean presidential election 2 October 2016 Chad * 2016 Chadian presidential election 10 April 2016 Djibouti * 2016 Djiboutian presidential ...

saw candidates from Grand Comore contest the elections. The next presidential election would have seen a president elected from Anjouan. However, a

constitutional referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a direct vote by the electorate (rather than their representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either binding (resulting in the adoption of a new policy) or advis ...

in July 2018 saw voters approve constitutional amendments that scrapped the rotation system and instituted a standard

two-round system The two-round system (TRS or 2RS), sometimes called ballotage, top-two runoff, or two-round plurality, is a single-winner electoral system which aims to elect a member who has support of the majority of voters. The two-round system involves one ...

in which a candidate has to receive a majority of the vote in the first round to be elected, with a second round held if no candidate is able to win in the first round. The changes also moved the next presidential elections forward to 2019 and allowed incumbent President

run for a second term. The referendum led to violent protests and an armed uprising in Anjouan in October 2018, which was stopped by the

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

after several days.Comoros army regains control in Anjouan after uprising: minister
News 24, 21 October 2018

Candidates

A total of 20 candidates registered to contest the elections, with the Supreme Court determining the final list of eligible participants.Comores: clôture du dépôt de candidature pour la présidentielle
RFI, 23 January 2019 Incumbent President Assoumani ran for reelection, whilst other candidates attempting to register included the two losing candidates from the nationwide vote in 2016 ( Mohamed Ali Soilihi and Mouigni Baraka) and Salim Saadi, who contested the 2016 primary elections as an independent. Seven of the 20 applicants were rejected, including the main opposition candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Soulé.Former Army Chief in Coup-Prone Comoros Rejects Vote Results
Bloomberg, 28 March 2019

Results

Aftermath

Following the election, the fourth-placed candidate Mohamed Soilihi called for the results to be invalidated and for a campaign of civil disobedience. He was subsequently arrested.

References

{{Comorian elections

2019 in the Comoros March 2019 in Africa Presidential elections in the Comoros