2013 Djiboutian parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Djibouti on 22 February 2013.[1] After their boycott of the 2008 elections, opposition groups contested the elections as the Union for National Safety alliance.[2]

2013 Djiboutian parliamentary election
22 February 2013
All 65 seats in the National Assembly
33 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party
  USN
Leader Ismaïl Omar Guelleh Omar Elmi Khaireh
Party UMP USN
Seats won 55 10
Seat change Decrease 10 New
Popular vote 74,016 42,897
Percentage 61.53% 35.66%
Swing Decrease38.47pp New
President before election

Idriss Arnaoud Ali
RPP

 Elected President

Idriss Arnaoud Ali
RPP

Politics of Djibouti
Arab League Member State of the Arab League
Constitution
Executive
Legislature
Elections
Administrative divisions
Foreign relations
map Africa portal icon Politics portal

According to government figures, the ruling Union for the Presidential Majority won 55 of 65 seats in Parliament, while the USN won the remaining 10 seats. It was the first time since independence in 1977 that opposition parties had been represented in the legislature. However, the USN claimed the figures for Djibouti city were falsified and released alternative results which would have reduced the UMP to 34 seats and increased their total from 10 to 31.

Electoral system

In 2013 the previous winner-takes-all party block vote was abandoned. Instead the elections were held using closed list systems in which 80% of seats (rounded to the nearest integer) in each constituency were awarded to the party receiving the most votes. The remaining seats were allocated proportionally to other parties receiving over 10% of the vote using the D'Hondt method. In cases where no other party received more than 10% of the vote, all seats in a constituency were awarded to the party receiving the most votes.[3]

Results
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Union for the Presidential Majority74,01661.5355–10
Union for National Salvation42,89735.6610New
Centre of Unified Democrats3,3892.820New
Total120,302100.00650
Valid votes120,30298.09
Invalid/blank votes2,3451.91
Total votes122,647100.00
Registered voters/turnout184,16066.60
Source: President of Djibouti

By region
Region UMP USN CUD
% Seats % Seats % Seats
Djibouti 49.4 28 47.6 7 3.0 0
Arta 69.4 2 30.6 1 – –
Ali Sabeh 60.0 5 44.4 1 4.6 0
Dikhil 88.3 11 9.5 0 2.3 0
Tadjourah 83.4 5 12.1 1 4.5 0
Obock 96.6 4 3.4 0 – –
Total 61.5 55 35.7 10 2.8 0

Aftermath

On 26 February 2013, UNS spokesman Daher Ahmed Farah said police fired tear gas on demonstrators that were protesting the election results. 300 people were arrested. "The situation is tense," Farah said. "The opposition won the elections and the victory was denied... the numbers were manipulated."[4] The National Assembly began meeting for its new parliamentary term on 18 March 2013. Idriss Arnaoud Ali was re-elected without opposition as President of the National Assembly. 10 opposition deputies were not present.[5][6]

References
  1. IOG takes risk of renewing RPP top brass Africa Intelligence, 6 October 2012
  2. Djibouti regime facing tough poll The Australian, 21 February 2013
  3. The 2012 amendment to art. 33 of the electoral law Archived 2018-02-13 at the Wayback Machine President of Djibouti
  4. ".:Middle East Online::Djibouti opposition protesters clash with police:". www.middle-east-online.com. Archived from the original on 2014-02-01.
  5. "La nouvelle assemblée nationale tient sa séance inaugurale", Agence Djiboutienne d'Information, 18 March 2013 (in French)
  6. Séance Inaugurale de la 7ème Législature de l’Assemblée nationale: Arnaoud reconduit au « perchoir » Archived 2013-04-10 at archive.today La Nation, 19 March 2013 (in French)
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.