Small Island Developing States Elections: Trinidad and Tobago on September 7

[Sir John Johns]

The Comoros will be election a new President in two rounds on November 2 & 16.

Actually, the Comorian presidential election will be held in principle in 2016. The elections planned to be held on November 2 and 16 are the elections for the National Assembly, the three Islands' Councils and the newly created communes (municipalities). However, these elections were first postponed by President Dhoinine to 28 December and 1st February. However, after an application submitted by an opposition party, the Independent National Electoral Commission further postponed the elections to a later date (presumably March 2015 if not later). According to the Electoral Commission, the presidential decree that firstly postponed the election day was illegal as the electoral roll shoud be completed 90 days before the election day.

Some observers have already questioned the holding of the communal elections as the borders of several communes have not yet been fixed. Questions about the funding of the new communes have also been raised. The national government has already problems to finance its own activities; quite tellingly, the elections will be paid by various international organizations and foreign countries.

[Sir John Johns]

What is your source for the info on the Presidential election? Also: since the last Presidential election was in 2010 (and the previous in 2006), what is the story behind this unusually long 6 year term? (who extended it? the President?).

Could you make a more organized post with types of election and dates as currently known?

I found the 2016 date in the Comorian press after I found absolutely nothing on the French-speaking Web about presidential election in 2014. You have mentions of a 2016 date for the presidential election here and on this article from the Economist (about a possible candidacy of former President Sambi, which would break the presidency's rotation among the three islands).

Apparently, the date change is due to the 2009 Referendum that allowed President Sambi to extend his presidential term for two years so that the presidential and islands governors' elections were held on the same date; the idea was already to save money. However, the Constitutional Court, that had previously postponed the date of the said referendum, nullified the extension of Sambi's term so the next presidential election was held in 2010. There were apparently horse-trading between the new president and the opposition over the new electoral calendar, but the next presidential election (theoretically) will be held in 2016 at the same time as the election of governors.

On a related note, there are Comorian politicians who claimed that the next island to held the presidential primaries should not be Grande Comore but ... Mayotte (!) which is theoretically part of the Comoros...