HORN OF AFRICA — Ismaïl Omar Guelleh was reelected to a sixth term as president of Djibouti on Saturday, with official results showing he won 97.81% of the vote. The 78-year-old leader, who has governed the small Horn of Africa nation for more than two decades, faced only one opponent in the contest.

That sole challenger was Mohamed Farah Samatar, a former member of the ruling party. No major opposition figure ran against Guelleh. Opposition groups in Djibouti frequently boycott elections, citing restrictions on political freedoms, and the pattern held in this latest vote. Supporters of Guelleh gathered at the presidential palace on Saturday to celebrate the result and offer their congratulations to the reelected president.

Guelleh first assumed the presidency in 1999, when he succeeded his uncle, former President Hassan Gouled Aptidon. In 2025, Djibouti's lawmakers scrapped presidential age limits, a legislative change that allowed the 78-year-old incumbent to appear on the ballot once more.

Djibouti, a country of about 1 million people, sits along a global shipping route linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The United States, China, France, and Japan each maintain a military base in the country. Revenues from hosting those foreign military installations and from providing port services to landlocked neighboring Ethiopia support Djibouti's economy.