Ismail Omar Guelleh wins Djibouti presidential poll

‘Thank you for your trust, thank you Djibouti. Let’s continue together,’ Guelleh writes on Twitter after results announced

President Ismail Omar Guelleh was declared the winner in Friday’s presidential election in Djibouti.

“Thank you for your trust, thank you Djibouti. Let’s continue together,” Guelleh said on Twitter shortly after results were announced.

Guelleh, 73 was re-elected with 98.58 % of the vote, defeating Zakaria Ismail, an independent and a newcomer candidate, according to an official count.

An estimated 215,000 voters cast ballots in the country with a population of more than 1 million residents.

Main traditional opposition parties boycotted the polls and expressed concern about the fairness of the vote.

Guelleh will lead Djibouti for a fifth term staying in power for more than two decades, becoming one of the longest-serving heads of state on the African continent.

Djibouti, bordering Somalia in the south and the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in the east, is a small country in the Horn of Africa.

The strategic country houses the US’ biggest military facility on the continent. China, Japan and France — Djibouti’s former colonial power — also have military bases in the country.