Djibouti’s minister of the interior has announced that President Ismail Omar Guelleh has won Friday’s presidential election with nearly 87 percent of the vote.

Interior Minister Hassan Omar Mohamed told VOA (Somali service) the vote count is complete and President Guelleh has won outright in the first round of the election, giving him another five-year term in office – his fourth consecutive term since 1999.

His nearest rival was Omar Elmi Khaire of the Union for National Salvation, who got just over 7 percent of the votes.

Some opposition parties boycotted the election after Guelleh, who was always the clear front-runner, went back on his earlier decision not to run.

Opposition supporters dispute the vote, saying some voters were turned away from polling stations. Opposition leaders have complained of police brutality in the weeks leading up to the election, and say the media covers them unfairly.

Djibouti is very small, but it carries influence internationally because of its location as a port on the Gulf of Aden, one of the world’s busiest shipping routes. The U.S. military has its only permanent base in Africa in Djibouti.

VOA