The ruling party of Djibouti has scored a landslide victory, winning a majority of seats in Friday’s parliamentary elections in Djibouti, preliminary data shows.
The country’s interior ministry reported that the Union for Majority Presidential (UMP) has secured a majority with 85% votes cast in the six regions of the country.
The data indicates that the ruling party won 56 of the 65 parliamentary seats of the tiny East African country.
UMP also won 28 seats out of 35 seats contested in the capital city which stands at 81% victory as the other parties got 19%.
With historic victory, UMP garnered 100% of votes cast in Obock, Dakhil and Arta regions for the first time since the country gained independence from France.
The other remaining regions, Tadjoura and AliSabieh honoured the party with 91% and 95% of the votes counted respectively.
Citing lack of transparency, the Mouvement Pour le Renouveau Dèmocratique et le Dèveloppement ( MRD) has boycotted the elections just like they did in 2016 during presidential elections.
“In Djibouti, there is a problem of legitimacy of democratic, legitimacy of parliamentary, because elections are never free and fair,” Daher Ahmed Farah told VOA during an interview on the party’s boycott.
In 2013, the elections of the ruling party won 55 seats whereas the remaining 10 seats were occupied by the opposition.
Djibouti which is located in the one of the busiest shipping routes is hosting multiple foreign military bases including France, China, Japan, US and EU anti-piracy navy forces.
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