Djibouti's incumbent President Ismail Omar Guelleh casts his vote at the City Hall polling station during the presidential election in Mouloud, Djibouti, April 10, 2026 -

Last updated: 22 minutes ago

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Djibouti President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh was reelected for a sixth term after official results showed him winning 97.81 percent of the vote in Friday's election.

Guelleh, 78, has ruled the small Horn of Africa nation of about 1 million for more than two decades. He had vowed his fifth term would be his last. Instead, he had the constitution altered to allow him to run past the age of 75.

Election officials said the vote was peaceful. At the presidential palace, supporters on Saturday celebrated and offered congratulations.

Guelleh faced a single challenger, Mohamed Farah Samatar, a former ruling party member, in a race analysts say offered little genuine competition. Opposition groups frequently boycott elections, citing restrictions on political freedoms.

Guelleh succeeded his uncle, former President Hassan Gouled Aptidon, in 1999, extending a family-led system that has shaped the country's politics for decades. He's since ruled the Horn of Africa nation with an iron grip.

He casts himself as a guarantor of stability and has turned the strategically located nation into an international military hub.

Djibouti hosts multiple foreign military bases, including those of the US, China, France and Japan, underscoring its importance along a key global shipping route linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Revenues from these arrangements, along with port services for neighboring Ethiopia, underpin the economy. China, Japan and Italy also have troops in the country.

But rights groups say Guelleh has repressed dissenting voices and press freedom.

Critics called the election a “masquerade” with a "foregone conclusion."

Djibouti President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh Elected Again for Sixth Term

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