Presidential poll declared invalid

The Comoros Electoral Commission has declared last week's presidential poll invalid and ordered a revote. In addition, Sunday's planned election for the presidency of the island of Grand Comore was postponed until the outcome of the bid for presidency of all three islands was clarified. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) representative in the Comoros, Andre Carvalho, told IRIN on Monday that the electoral commission last week passed the decision on the endorsement of the election to a follow-up committee. However, the committee, whose broad task is to oversee the reunification of the three islands, sent the decision back to the electoral commission with a message that a decision had to be made by Monday. The formal notice of the commission's finding was not announced by Monday evening, but Carvalho told IRIN that the news had already filtered to most islanders. Carvalho said the atmosphere was peaceful while people waited for an official announcement, although the latest news had made opposition candidates Mahamoud Mrandadi and Said Ali Kemal "very smiley". The poll on 14 April saw unopposed Colonel Azali Assoumani elected president of the Comoros Union after Mrandadi and Kemal boycotted withdrew from the race alleging irregularities. In addition to the withdrawal of the opposition candidates, violence was also reported at some polling stations. Assoumani secured over 75 percent of the vote, with a poll reportedly as low as 44.4 percent of registered voters on Grande Comore, 33.4 percent on Anjouan and 35 percent on Moheli. A team of international observers stopped short of calling the election free and fair, but said it had been carried out correctly. This led a group of arsonists to attack the UN compound in the capital, Moroni. Carvalho said many people incorrectly thought that the UN was part of the observer group, when it had in fact only provided technical support for the election. The national election monitoring body said it couldn't declare the election free and fair. Mrandadi and Kemal have already demanded new elections. Meanwhile, the Indian Ocean archipelago is being run by an interim government led by Hamada Madi Borelo. The government was formed in January when Assoumani stepped down to run for the presidency and will dissolve when a new president is inaugurated. Assoumani came to power in the last of over 20 coups the islands have known since independence from France in 1975. Under a new constitution, each island should have its own president and a federal president shall have overall authority. The islands of Anjouan and Moheli have already elected their presidents, but Grande Comore, which will have the rotating presidency first, will have to wait for the outcome of the 14 April election before it chooses its own president.