Assoumani claims victory in Comorian presidential election

A newly-appointed electoral body in the Comoros on Thursday confirmed Azali Assoumani as the winner of last month's disputed presidential election. The commission of five magistrates announced that the former military strongman had secured 75 percent of the vote. Under the new constitution, the federal presidency is to rotate on a four-year basis between the three islands. The first federal president is to be elected from Grande Comore, in this case Assoumani. Each island will however have its own president but the federal president would have overall authority. Colonel Azali, who first came to power in a coup in 1999, had earlier unilaterally declared himself the winner of last month's poll, despite claims by his rivals and independent observers that the vote lacked transparency. The Comoros election commission was dissolved after it could not reach consensus on the outcome of the election. Opposition candidates, Mahamoud Mradabi and Said Ali Kemal, who boycotted the election at the last minute, alleging irregularities and petitioned the electoral commission to declare the poll "null and void". Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Special Envoy, Francisco Caetano Madeira of Mozambique, called on all Comorian parties to accept the decision. UN Development Programme (UNDP) representative in the Comoros, Andre Carvalho, told IRIN on Thursday: "The situation is calm, and apart from a few groups of Azali supporters celebrating their victory, everything is thus far under control. "It remains to be seen how the partisans of Mradabi and Ali Kemal will react as they promised to demonstrate violently if the commission does not decide to declare the elections null and void. We have reasons to expect some trouble but do not know what its magnitude will be and what measures the security forces have taken to control it," he added. Meanwhile, the Indian Ocean archipelago is experiencing cyclonic weather which Carvalho said, "may have also restrained and could dampen initiatives to create trouble". The islands of Anjouan and Moheli have already elected their presidents while elections for the president of Grande Comore are scheduled for 12 and 19 May. Normally, the swearing in of the federal president should await these elections. However, it is not clear if Azali will wait after being patient for three weeks for the confirmation of his victory. The Comoros Union of Moheli, Anjouan and Grande Comore is currently being led by an interim government headed by Hamada Madi Borelo. The interim government's mandate ends 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.