Comoros president says he intends to hand power to his son

24/1/2025 15:54

Comoros President Azali Assoumani has for the first time said publicly he intends to hand power to his son Nour El Fath when he leaves office in 2029, confirming critics' accusations that he has long been grooming his son to take over.



Assoumani, whose re-election a year ago was tainted by allegations of voter fraud, put El Fath in charge of coordinating government affairs and granted him sweeping powers over the cabinet.



Referring to when the time comes for him to leave power, Assoumani said on Thursday in a speech to supporters on the island of Moheli: "I will place my son to replace me as head of the state and the party."



El Fath did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment but has previously said Comoros, a group of three islands in the Indian Ocean off East Africa, is not a monarchy.



Assoumani's ruling party decisively won parliamentary elections this month, although opposition parties either boycotted the vote or rejected the results, claiming fraud.



"With this statement, he has only made official what we already knew," said Abdallah Mohamed Daoudou, a spokesperson for the opposition coalition.