Anjouan presidential election, 2008

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A presidential election was held in Anjouan on 15 June and 29 June 2008 following the 2008 invasion of Anjouan to oust Mohamed Bacar as President of Anjouan.^[1] The election was won by Moussa Toybou, who defeated Mohamed Djaanfari in the second round.

About 128,000 people were eligible to vote, and there were 240 polling stations.^[2] Five candidates were qualified to contest the election: Bacar Abdou (deputy for Mutsamudu), Bastoine Soulaimane (a judge and former president of the Anjouan Court of Appeal), Mohamed Djaanfari (former vice-president of the Assembly of the Union of the Comoros), Moussa Toybou (a former minister in Said Mohamed Djohar's government) and Soundi Abdoulatuf (a French military veteran).^[3][4] These candidates were approved by the Constitutional Court on May 20.^[3]

Voting for the first round on 15 June, although scheduled to begin at 7am, was delayed by an hour in the main cities, Mutsamudu and Domoni, due to the late arrival of ballot papers or electoral officials.^[2] First round turnout was placed at 42.79%.^[5]

Djaanfari (with 42.3%) and Toybou (with 42.5%) advanced to the second round on 29 June 2008,^[6] separated by only 88 votes. The other three candidates received between 5.8% and 4.6%.^[7]

Toybou was considered a newcomer to politics. He said that he knew "the mechanisms to lift Anjouan out of under-development", and he supported allowing some of those who served under Bacar to remain in administrative roles due to their experience and the need for reconciliation.^[8] He also enjoyed the support of President of Comoros Ahmed Abdallah Sambi,^[5][8] while Djaanfari was better known to the local population due to his prior political work.

Campaigning for the second round began on June 21.^[5] Toybou won the run-off with 52.37% to Djaanfari's 47.63%, with a turnout of 48.98%; the results had to be validated by the Constitutional Court within three days.^[9] Djaanfari contested the result.^[10] Turnout in the second round was reportedly higher than in the first one.^[11]

The final official result, as confirmed by the Constitutional Court on 3 July 2008, was:

• Toybou – 52.42%, 30,941 votes
• Djaanfari – 47.58%, 28,084 votes

Toybou was to be sworn in on 5 July 2008.^[12]

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