Djibouti parliament removes presidential age limit

ADDIS ABABA - Djibouti's parliament removed the age limit for presidents with a unanimous vote on Sunday, its speaker told AFP, opening the way for leader Ismail Omar Guelleh to run for a sixth term.

Guelleh, 77, has held power since 1999 in the tiny Horn of Africa nation, a major port that hosts military bases for the United States, France, China, Japan and Italy.

Djibouti's lawmakers unanimously approved the change to the constitution to remove a bar on running for president past the age of 75.

The move allows Guelleh to run in the next election in April 2026, likely facing minimal opposition in a country with limited freedom of expression and press.

"The National Assembly ratified the removal of the age limit today, so it is official," said parliament speaker Dileita Mohamed Dileita.

Parliament had already passed the motion a week earlier in an initial vote that was then approved by Guelleh and sent back to lawmakers for the final vote.

Dileita earlier told AFP the constitutional change was necessary to ensure "the stability of the small country, in a troubled region, the Horn of Africa, with Somalia, Ethiopia, and Eritrea"

Guelleh won the last election in 2021 with 97 per cent of the vote, while his party, the Union for the Presidential Majority, holds the majority of parliamentary seats.

He succeeded Hassan Gouled Aptidon, the father of Djibouti's independence, in 1999 after serving as his chief of staff for 22 years.

Djibouti has only around one million inhabitants but lies on the strategic trade route of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on the Red Sea.