Ismaïl Omar Guelleh has been reelected president of Djibouti (a small Horn of Africa nation of roughly one million people) after official results gave him 97.8% of the vote in the 10 April poll. The 78-year-old, who has governed since 1999, faced only one nominal challenger after having the constitution amended to let him stand beyond the age-75 limit — despite earlier pledging his fifth term would be his last. Critics dismissed the vote as a "masquerade," pointing to an opposition boycott and longstanding restrictions on political freedoms, while Guelleh's supporters argue his continued rule preserves stability in a country that hosts foreign military bases for the US, China, France, and Japan along the strategically vital Red Sea–Gulf of Aden shipping corridor.