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Comoros legislative election, 2004

Elections and parties in
the Comoros

Legislative elections were held in the Union of the Comoros on April 18 and April 25, 2004. The result was a victory for opponents of the President of the Comoros, Azali Assoumani.

The Federal Assembly of the Union of the Comoros consists of 33 members. Of these, 18 are elected directly from single-member constituencies. The remaining 15 are chosen by the legislatures of the three islands which constitute the Union: Ndzuwanie (also known as Anjouan), Mwali (also known als Mohéli) and Ngazidja (also known as Grande Comore), with five being chosen from each island.

Candidates who polled 50% of the vote in the first round on April 18 were elected. In constituencies where no candidate polled 50% of the vote, a second round of voting was held on April 25.

There is only one national political party in the Comoros, the Convention for the Renewal of the Comoros (Convention pour le Renouveau des Comores, CRC) of President Azali, which favours more centralised government.

At these elections the CRC was opposed by a loose coalition called the Camp of the Autonomous Islands (Camp des Îles Autonomes), which is not a formal party but a coalition of opposition groups organised by the presidents of the three federated islands and opposed to President Azali.

Complete results of the elections have not yet been published. Media reports agree that the supporters of President Azali were heavily defeated, winning no seats in Anjouan or Mwali, and only six of nine seats in Azali's home base of Ngazidja.

Since the opposition controls the legislatures of all three of islands, the 15 members to be chosen by them will presumably also be opposition supporters. The opposition would thus control the federal legislature by 27 to 6.

Voting figures for some of the electorates are available [1] http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/c/comoros/comoros2004.txt , but no overall national voting figures can be given.



Last updated: 05-03-2005 09:00:33