Azali Assoumani
Azali Assoumani is a Comorian politician who is the current President of the Comoros, In office since 2016. Previously he was President from 1999 to 2002 and again from 2002 to 2006.
He became leader of the Comoros on 30 April 1999 after leading a coup to depose acting president Tadjidine Ben Said Massounde, who he saw as pandering to the independence movement on Anjouan. He won multi-party elections in 2002, prior to which he was constitutionally required to temporarily step down in order to run as a candidate.
On 15 May 2016 he was declared by the Constitutional Court to have won the 2016 presidential election to succeed President Ikililou Dhoinine.Life and career
Azali was born in 1959 at Mitsoudjé in south-western Grande Comore. Until he overthrew the civilian government in 1999, he chased a military career for two decades. Between 1977 and 1980 he trained at the Royal Military Academy in Morocco and qualified as a parachutist. On his return to Comoros, he joined the FAC. After the death of Abdullah and the departure of the mercenaries in 1989−1990, Major Azali became a senior officer in the new Comorian Defense Force. In 1996 he undertook further training at a French military academy and was promoted to colonel and chief of staff of the new National Army of Development.
Until 2018 the presidency rotated every five years between the country's three islands, Grande Comore, Anjouan and Mohéli. The 2018 constitutional referendum ended this system and allowed Azali to stand in the 2019 Comorian presidential election, which he won in the first round of voting receiving 60.7% of the votes cast.
