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afrol News, 19 March - The outgoing military ruler of Comoros, Colonel Azali Assoumani, leads the first round of the presidential election on Gran Comore, also set to produce the first President of the new Comoro Union. The second poll round next month will decide if Colonel Assoumani returns to power. Reports from Gran Comore confirm that Assoumani won the first poll round, receiving 39.8 percent of the votes of Sunday's ballot. Second to him came Mahamoud Mradabe with nearly 16 percent of the vote, followed by Said Ali Kemal with about 11 percent. There were a total of nine candidates participating in the poll. These three leading men are thus contesting in the national poll on 14 April, following the new and complex constitution of the Comoro Union. The Union's constitution, recently approved in a referendum, rules that the presidency will rotate in four-year terms around the three islands Gran Comore, Anjouan and Moheli; constituting the Union. Grand Comore is the largest of the Comoro islands and will produce the first president. The new constitution establishes the Comoran Union, replacing the Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros, the years of military rule on Gran Comore and secessionism on the island of Anjouan. Anjouan has been de facto independent since 1997, though not internationally recognised. On Anjouan and Moheli, meanwhile, the two local constitutions, defining the islands' autonomy, were approved by the islanders' majority in referendums one week ago. The islands will later elect their presidents. Gran Comore approved its new local constitution on Sunday's referendum, parallel to the presidential elections. Several more polls are scheduled to finish the complex construction of a Comoro Union. On 31 March and 7 April, voters on the three islands are to elect their local presidents. On 14 April, Assoumani, Mradabe and Kemal are to contest in national elections on who is to be the first President of the Union. Colonel Azali Assoumani, the favourite to the presidential poll, only stepped down from the Comoro presidency in January to be able to contest the presidential elections according to the new constitution. The former military strongman took power on Grand Comore in a military coup in 1999. He has been avoided by the international community, being a military ruler. Assoumani has however plaid a key role in achieving reconciliation with the secessionist government of Anjouan island, leading to the establishment of the Comoro Union.
Sources: Based on press reports and afrol archives
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