At Stake in this Election: 

• All 65 seats of the Djiboutian National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale) 

Government Structure:  

• Chief of State: President Ismail Omar GUELLEH (since 8 May 1999) 

• Head of Government: Prime Minister Abdoulkader Kamil MOHAMED (since 1 April 2013) 

• Legislature: Unicameral National Assembly with 65 members 

Electoral System:  

• The president is directly elected by absolute majority vote in up to two rounds of voting.  The president serves a five-year term. 

• The prime minister is appointed by the president. 

• Members of the National Assembly are directly elected from six multi-seat constituencies (cercles) by party-list proportional representation vote. Members serve five-year terms. 

• In each constituency, 80% of seats are allocated to the party that won a majority of the vote. The remaining seats are split (via proportional representation) between all other parties that won at least 10% of the vote. 

Last Election: 

In the 2018 general election, the Union for the Presidential Majority won 57 seats, maintaining their majority. The Union for Democracy and Justice won 7 seats, and the Center of Unified Democrats won a single seat. 

Key Deadlines: 

• Candidate filing deadline: 26 January 2023 

• Voter registration deadline: 30 September 2022 

Main Candidates in this Election: 

• Union for the Presidential Majority / Union pour la Majorité Présidentielle (UMP) 

• Leader: Ismail Omar GUELLEH 

• Seats won in last election: 57/65 

• The UMP is a four-party coalition composed of the RPP, FRUD, PND, and PSD. 

• Union for Democracy and Justice / Union pour la Démocratie et la Justice (UDJ) 

• Leader: Ilaya Ismael Guedi HARED 

• Seats won in last election: 7/65 

Population and Registered Voters: 

• Population: 957,273 (2022 est.) 

• Registered Voters: 215,687 (2021 est.) 

Gender Data: 

• Female Population: 523,100 (2022 est.) 

• CEDAW Status: Ratified (by accession), 2 December 1998  

• Gender Quota:  Yes; At least 25% of National Assembly seats must be occupied by women, and candidate lists from any political party must include at least 25% women and 25% men. 

• Female Candidates in this election: Yes 

• Number of Female Legislators (pre-election): 17 out of 65 (26.2%) in the National Assembly   

• Human Development Index (HDI) Position: 0.509; Low (2021 est.)   

• Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: N/A (2019)  

Disability Data: 

• CRPD Status: Ratified (by accession), 18 June 2012 

• Projected population with a disability: 143,591 (2022 est.) 

IFES Resources: 

• Does IFES have a presence in Djibouti: No  

• Election Access: Yes 

• Election Judgements: Yes, 1 resource