Comoros will hold elections for its 33-seat parliament on January 12, according to a decree published on Saturday.
However, opposition parties have announced plans to boycott the poll.
The Indian Ocean archipelago, home to about 800,000 people, last held parliamentary elections in January 2020. Incumbent President Azali Assoumani was re-elected in January for another five-year term, but the opposition rejected the results, citing allegations of ballot stuffing and premature closure of voting. The government has dismissed these claims.
Salim Issa Abdillah, leader of the opposition JUWA party and a former presidential candidate, expressed the opposition’s refusal to participate in the upcoming legislative elections. “We are not ready to take part in legislative elections until we know what is going to happen,” Abdillah told reporters. “We will boycott the elections… We do not trust Azali Assoumani because no matter what commitments he makes, he will not respect them.”
The Orange party, another opposition group, has also declared its boycott, criticizing the president’s decision to reappoint Idrissa Said as head of the electoral commission. They accuse Said of bias toward the ruling Convention for the Renewal of the Comoros (CRC) party, a claim he has denied.
Assoumani’s critics accuse him of authoritarianism and suspect he is grooming his eldest son, Nour El-fath, to succeed him when his current term expires in 2029. Assoumani, who first came to power in 1999 through a coup, has since won three elections.
