DJIBOUTI — Djibouti’s parliament has voted unanimously to remove the presidential age limit, clearing the path for long-serving leader Ismail Omar Guelleh to seek a sixth term in office in 2026.
The constitutional amendment, ratified on Sunday, eliminates a clause that barred anyone over 75 from contesting the presidency. Guelleh, 77, has ruled the small but strategically vital Horn of Africa nation since 1999.
“The National Assembly ratified the removal of the age limit today, so it is official,” parliament speaker Dileita Mohamed Dileita told AFP after the final vote.
The decision comes a week after lawmakers first approved the motion, which was later endorsed by Guelleh and sent back to parliament for formal ratification.
Dileita defended the amendment, saying it was necessary to preserve “stability in a small country located in a troubled region — the Horn of Africa — with Somalia, Ethiopia, and Eritrea.”
Guelleh’s government, backed by a dominant Union for the Presidential Majority (UMP) party, has long faced criticism from rights groups over restrictions on press freedom and political dissent.
In the 2021 presidential election, Guelleh won nearly 97 percent of the vote, after opposition parties largely boycotted the polls.
Djibouti, home to fewer than one million people, occupies a strategic position along the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a vital shipping lane linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
The country hosts several foreign military bases, including those of the United States, France, China, Japan, and Italy.
Guelleh succeeded Hassan Gouled Aptidon, Djibouti’s founding president, in 1999 after serving as his chief of staff for more than two decades.
The next presidential election is scheduled for April 2026, and Guelleh is widely expected to run, likely facing minimal opposition.
