Unrest in Indian Ocean island nation of Comoros after the president is declared election winner

MORONI, Comoros (AP) — People barricaded streets and burned tires for a second day Thursday in the Indian Ocean island nation of Comoros after the incumbent president was declared winner following an election over the weekend that was denounced by the country's opposition parties as fraudulent.

Some protesters tore down a poster of President Azali Assoumani, who on Tuesday was declared the winner of the presidential balloting, with more than 60% of the votes in his favor.

The declaration triggered violent protests on Wednesday, when a government minister's house was set on fire and a car at the home of another minister was burned. People also vandalized a national food depot. Several roads in and around the capital, Moroni, were barricaded by protesters.

The government ordered a curfew on Wednesday night, until 6 a.m. Thursday.

United Nations human rights chief, Volker Türk, appealed for calm and urged authorities to allow people to protest peacefully. His office said it received reports of security forces firing tear gas at peaceful protesters, including on a march by a group of women. Türk also said he was concerned with repression in Comoros in recent years.

Opposition parties have claimed Sunday's vote was fraudulent and say the national electoral commission is biased toward Assoumani, a former military officer who first came to power in a 1999 coup. The opposition has called for the election results to be canceled.

Comoros has a population of around 800,000 spread over three islands and has had a series of coups since independence from France in 1975.

Assoumani, 65, was reelected for a fourth term with 62.97% of the vote after changing the constitution in 2018 to allow him to sidestep term limits. He has been accused of cracking down on dissent and previously banned protests. He currently chairs the African Union, where his one-year largely ceremonial term is to end next month.

The government said a number of protesters were arrested, without offering specifics, and accused the opposition of finding “it difficult to accept defeat” and inciting the unrest.

“We know the instigators," government spokesperson Houmed Msaidie said. “Some of them are in the hands of law enforcement. We will continue to look for them because there is no question of the state giving way to violence.”

A coalition of opposition parties denied the accusations, saying the unrest shows people are “fed up” with the government.

When Assoumani changed the constitution in 2018, the move triggered mass demonstrations across the nation and an armed uprising on one of the islands that was quelled by the army.

After taking power in a coup, Assoumani was first elected president in 2002. He stepped down in 2006 but returned to win a second term in 2016.

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