Overview and Live Results: Comoros Parliament Elections

By civicAPI Staff

President Azali Assoumani of the Union of Comoros, attending the African Union (AU) third Men's Conference on Positive Masculinity in Leadership to End Violence Against Women and Girls held at the DIRCO OR Tambo Building in Pretoria, November 28, 2023.
President Azali Assoumani of the Union of Comoros, attending the African Union (AU) third Men's Conference on Positive Masculinity in Leadership to End Violence Against Women and Girls held at the DIRCO OR Tambo Building in Pretoria. CREDIT: GovernmentZA. "Third African Union Men's Conference on Positive Masculinity." https://www.flickr.com/photos/governmentza/53365962891/.

This Sunday - January 12 - brings us the year’s first major elections. The Union of the Comoros will hold elections for its 24-seat Assembly. The opposition parties, however, have already announced their intentions to boycott the elections.

The Indian Ocean island, which is home to approximately ~850,000 residents, last held its parliamentary elections in January 2020. In January 2024, incumbent president Azali Assoumani (CRC) was re-elected in a landslide victory to a five-year term. However, the opposition parties rejected the results, claiming instances of ballot stuffing and polls closing earlier than announced.

Though the government denied these claims, Salim Issa Abdillah, leader of the opposition JUWA party, who ran against Assoumani in the previous election, told Reuters: “…We are not ready to take part in legislative elections until we know what is going to happen.” “We will boycott (the elections) … we do not trust Azali Assoumani because no matter what commitments he makes, he will not respect them.”

Another opposition party, the Orange Party, has also announced their intentions to boycott the election, due to the president having reappointed Idrissa Saïd as the head of the electoral body. Opponents have accused Saïd of being biased in favor of the ruling Convention for the Renewal of the Comoros (CRC) party, a claim which Saïd has denied.

Assembly of the Union

Since 2020, there are 24 seats in the Assembly of the Union, the country’s legislative body, and 17 seats are needed for a majority.

Currently, the CRC holds the vast majority of seats, holding 20 (~83.3%) seats, followed by the Orange Party and the Independents, whom both have 2 (~8.3%) of the seats.

In constituencies where no candidates receive a majority, a second round, along with local elections, will be held on February 16. The voting age in the Comoros is 18. Voting is non-compulsory. There are approximately 338,940 registered voters in the Comoros.