Crisis Chronology

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COMOROS

11/28/2022

Court sentences former president Abdallah Sambi to life in prison for “high treason”: selling passports to stateless people, embezzlement, and other crimes. He was convicted in absentia, since he refused to appear at the trial. His lawyer did. Sambi has already been in prison for four years.

10/10/2020

In a rare show of unity, opposition parties and civil society organizations unite against Assoumani. If he had not changed the constitution in 7/18, his term would end and the president of the island of Anjouan would become president. Now, elections are to be held before the end of the year.

02/23/2020

The ruling Convention for the Renewal of Comoros (CRC) party wins parliament with more than 60% of the vote and twenty of twenty-two seats. The elections were boycotted by the major opposition parties, the Union for the Development of the Comoros and Juwa Party.

01/23/2020

Ruling government re-elected

Ruling Convention for the Renewal of the Comoros wins majority in legislature. Opposition boycotts the vote and disputes the election committee’s estimate of turnout as 61%.

05/30/2019

Assoumani frees jailed opposition figures, ncluding the head of the Juwa party, Hassane Ahmed el-Barwane.

03/27/2019

Assoumani is declared the winner with 61% of the vote. Runner-up Ahamada Mahamoudou had nearly 15%.

03/25/2019

Protests following election. Opposition candidates Achmet Said Mohamed and Soilihi Mohamed detained and released.

03/24/2019

Voting for president. Assoumani expected to win re-election easily. Opposition suspects that the voting will be rigged.

08/29/2018

Assoumani appoints a new government. Former Vice President Djaffar Said Ahmed, who opposed the referendum, leaves the government.

08/14/2018

Several arrested in alleged coup attempt.

08/01/2018

Comoros election commission says referendum passed overwhelmingly with a substantial turnout. The opposition disputes the latter. In addition to allowing the president to succeed himself or herself, the referendum changes the constitution to reference Sunni Islam. This is seen as an attack on Assoumani’s rival, Ahmed Abdallah Sambi, a Sunni seen as having ties to Shiite Iran while Assoumani seeks closer ties with Sunni Saudi Arabia.

07/30/2018

Voting on referendum to change presidential election structure. The opposition has called for a boycott.

05/21/2018

Former president Ahmed Abdallah Sambi is placed under house arrest. He has criticized Azali Assoumani and the government seems to fear he is attempting to foment dissent and unrest. Azali came to power in a coup, though he was elected in 2016.

05/12/2018

Comoros disputes status of the island of Mayotte with the French government. In 3/2009, the islands residents voted to become French.

05/04/2018

France suspends issuing visas to Comoros residents after Comoros refuses to receive three Comorians deported from the island of Mayotte, a part of France.

04/30/2018

Constitutional referendum set for 7/20. The referendum proposes ending the system of rotating a one-term presidency among the archipelago’s major islands, Grande Comore, Anjouan and Moheli. If the referendum passes, the next election would be held in 2019 instead of 2021 as scheduled, and allow the president to serve two five-year terms.

04/20/2018

Assoumani suspends the Constitutional Court because it lacks the correct number of judges. No judges have been named to the court and it has not been operating sinch 7/17. The Supreme Court will review constitutional issues.

05/05/2016

Assoumani affirmed president

Assoumani is declared by the Constitutional Court to have won the election.

04/10/2016

Second round of voting. Vice President Mohamed Ali Soilihi received the most votes in the first round, and will face a former coup leader, Azali Assoumani, and governor of the largest state, Mouigni Baraka, in the run-off. Assoumani, president from 1999 to 2002 and 2002 to 2006, wins a slight plurality.

02/21/2016

Primary elections for president and the governors of the three islands. The presidency revolves among the three islands. This year, the residents of Grande Comore are voting for president. The three top candidates among the twenty-five running will face each other in a runoff on 4/10/16. The leading candidate is former president Ahmed Sambi, who launched the Juwa Party in 2013.