Djibouti opposition calls for election boycott

DJIBOUTI (AFP) — Djibouti's three main opposition parties called Saturday on voters to boycott parliamentary elections on February 8, branding the exercise a farce.
Ismail Guedi Hared, head of the three-party coalition, the Union for a Democratic Alternative (UAD), said the vote had been designed by the ruling party for the ruling party.
The government of the Popular Rally for Progress (RPP) "remains allergic to any political freedom, one of the basic facets of human rights," he charged.
Less than a week from the poll only the five-party Union for the Presidential Majority, headed by the RPP, has registered a list of 65 candidates with the interior ministry.
The coalition loyal to President Ismael Omar Guelleh won the last parliamentary elections in 2003, as the opposition alleged fraud.
The UAD subsequently urged a boycott of the presidential election in April 2005 and regional elections of March 2006, alleging they were undemocratic.

Source: AFP