Comoros President Azali Assoumani says statements made in the press about him "transferring power to his son" were "erroneous". This comes a week after his party's win in contested legislative elections.
At a press conference in the capital Moroni on Monday, the deputy secretary general of the government, Mahamoud Salim Hafi, denied allegations that President Assoumani plans to transfer power directly to his own son, Nour El Fath, when his term ends in 2029.
"The head of state, at no time, has ever said that he was going to bequeath power to his son," Hafi said, following up on a government press release that denounced an "erroneous and intentional interpretation by certain detractors".
He was referring to a speech given by Assoumani on the island of Mohéli on 23 January, when the head of state spoke about his political future.
The leader was celebrating the CRC ruling party's win in parliamentary elections the week before, which were heavily boycotted by the opposition.
He told his supporters that when the time comes for him to leave power, "I will place my son to replace me as head of the state and the party".
Translation error ?
It seems that the confusion stemmed from a literal translation of the word 'son' that was relayed in various media outlets.
Hafi stressed that Assoumani was speaking in metaphorical terms of his future successor and that to report otherwise was "misinformation".
"He [Assoumain] spoke of a son in terms of his three families: his political family, his government family and his nuclear family...In 2029, he will choose, within the framework of the party, a child of the party to run for the universal suffrage of the Comorian people," Hafi went on.
The government spokesman explained that under a rotational leadership system shared by the three islands in the archipelago, the next leader must come from the island of Anjouan.
"In 2029, the turn falls to the island of Anjouan and Nour El Fath Azali is not from Anjouan. Not only is he not from Anjouan, but he has not lived the necessary ten years in Anjouan – as required by the Constitution," Hafi added.
Broad powers given to Comoros leader’s son fuels fears of dynastic control
Despite the president’s denial, critics have raised concerns about the growing influence of Nour El Fath in Comoros’ political affairs.
The 39-year-old was appointed by his father as coordinator of government affairs, granting him sweeping powers over the cabinet.
He also won 85 percent of the votes in his district of the Hambou region on Grande Comore Island in the legislative elections.
Electoral 'farce'
Present at Monday's press conference, Nour El Fath did not respond to any questions directly addressed to him, RFI's correspondent reported.
Assoumani, who first seized power in a military coup in 1999, has maintained a firm grip on the nation’s politics.
His latest election win in 2024 was marred by accusations of vote manipulation.
He also brushed off claims of irregularities by the United Opposition coalition, which in a statement denounced the January legislative polls as "the worst electoral farce of our half-century of independence".
A second round of voting will take place on 16 February, in which the United Opposition said it "would not participate".
With original reporting by RFI Moroni correspondent Abdallah Mzembaba
