Home Guelleh Faces One Opponent in Djibouti Election

Guelleh Faces One Opponent in Djibouti Election

March 19, 2026

Djibouti's incumbent president Ismail Omar Guelleh (C) casts his ballot at the Ras-Dika district polling station in the capital Djibouti on April 9, 2021. - Voting began on April 9, 2021 in Djibouti where incumbent Djibouti Ismail Omar Guelleh is seeking an all but assured fifth term as president of the small but strategically located nation he has ruled for 22 years. Some 215,000 citizens are registered to vote in the ballot pitting Guelleh, 73, against a little-known businessman widely seen to pose little threat to the strongman, who inherited power in 1999. (Photo by TONY KARUMBA / AFP)

Djibouti’s President Ismail Omar Guelleh will face a single challenger in the country’s presidential election scheduled for April 10, according to an official decree published Wednesday.

Guelleh, 78, who has been in power since 1999, is seeking a sixth term following a constitutional amendment in November that removed the 75-year age limit for presidential candidates.

His only opponent is Mohamed Farah Samatar, a former member of the ruling party and current head of the Unified Democratic Centre (CDU), a party with no parliamentary representation.

Guelleh Faces One Opponent in Djibouti Election. Credit: BBC

Djibouti, with a population of about one million, occupies a strategic location near the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden and hosts military bases for the United States, China, France, and other nations.

Guelleh was re-elected in 2021 with more than 97% of the vote.

Another potential candidate, Alexis Mohamed, a former presidential adviser who resigned in September, had expressed interest in running but did not submit an official application.

Author

Jimisayo Opanuga

Jimisayo Opanuga is a web writer in the Digital Department at News Central TV, where she covers African and international stories. Her reporting focuses on social issues, health, justice, and the environment, alongside general-interest news. She is passionate about telling stories that inform the public and give voice to underreported communities.