Djibouti's President Ismail Omar Guelleh has won another five-year term in office, capturing 97.81 percent of votes cast in Friday's presidential election, according to official results published by the country's state-run news agency. His sole challenger, Mohamed Farah Samatar of the Unified Democratic Centre, received just 2.19 percent. The 78-year-old incumbent, who has ruled the small Horn of Africa nation since 1999, declared his victory on social media shortly after early results arrived, writing simply: "Reelected."

The outcome surprised few observers. Thousands had attended Guelleh's campaign rallies in the lead-up to the vote, and his campaign posters were visible across the capital. By contrast, one of Samatar's events broadcast by state media drew only a few dozen supporters. Samatar's party holds no seats in parliament and struggled to gain recognition among voters — one resident told AFP he did not even know what the opposition candidate looked like. Official figures put voter turnout at over 80 percent, with roughly 256,000 people registered out of a population of approximately one million.

Guelleh's path to a sixth term was cleared last November, when the constitution was amended to remove a presidential age limit of 75 that would otherwise have barred him from running. The change followed an earlier revision in 2010, when parliament scrapped term limits altogether and shortened presidential mandates from six to five years. Most of the country's main opposition parties have boycotted elections since 2016, citing the absence of free political activity. Human rights groups have long accused the government of suppressing freedom of speech and political dissent, allegations the government has consistently denied.

Djibouti's strategic importance lends the election an international dimension. The country sits at the Bab al-Mandeb strait, a critical chokepoint linking the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea and providing access to the Suez Canal, one of the world's busiest shipping routes. The United States, China, France, Italy, and Japan all maintain military bases there — an arrangement that has made Djibouti a key node in global security and trade. Guelleh's campaign emphasized his record of maintaining stability amid conflicts that have destabilized several neighboring states and much of the Middle East. The preliminary results must still be validated by judges on the constitutional council before Guelleh can be formally sworn in for another term.

Based on: Al Jazeera English, BBC World