IFES Election Guide - Election Profile for Djibouti

Election Profile:

Overview

Results

Of Interest/Links

Sources

Country: Djibouti
Official Name: Republic of Djibouti
Election Type: Parliamentary
Date: February 22, 2013

Source for election date

At stake in this election:

65 seats in the National Assembly (Assemblée nationale)

Description of government structure:

Chief of State: President Ismail Omar GUELLEH
Head of Government: Prime Minister Dileita Mohamed DILEITA
Assembly: Djibouti has a unicameral National Assembly (Assemblée nationale) with 65 seats.

Description of electoral system:

The President is elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system to serve a 5-year term.
Prime Minister is appointed by the president.
In the National Assembly (Assemblée nationale), 52 members are elected by plurality vote in multi-member constituencies to serve 5-year terms and 13 members are elected by proportional representation.***

*** The election law was changed in November 2012 to allow for a mixed list electoral system, with 20 percent of the seats being awarded proportionally. Previously the party that received the most votes in each district received all of the district’s seats

Main parties in the electoral race:

Coalition: Union for a Presidential Majority / Union pour la majorité présidentielle (UMP)*
Leader: Ismail Omar GUELLEH
Seats won in last election: 65
Coalition: Union for National Salvation / Union pour le Salut National (USN)**
Leader: Ahmed Youssouf HOUMED
Seats won in last election: N/A
Party: Centre for Unified Democrats / Le Centre des Démocrates Unifiés (CDU)
Leader: Omar Elmi KHAIREH
Seats won in last election: N/A

* The UMP is a pro-government coalition comprising the People’s Rally for Progress (RPP), the Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy (FRUD), the Union of Reform Partisans (UPR), the Social Democratic Party (PSD), and the National Democratic Party (PND).
** Opposition political parties formed this electoral bloc to contest the 2013 election, as the opposition did not participate in the 2008 election. The Union for National Salvation is comprised of the Republican Alliance for Development (ARD), Union for Democracy and Justice (UDJ), the Movement for Renovated Democracy and Development (MRD), National Democratic Party (PND), the Djiboutian Party for Development (PDD), and the Movement for the Development and Liberty (MoDel).