Djibouti President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh has been reelected for a sixth term after official results showed him winning 97.81% of the vote in Friday's election.

He faced a single challenger, Mohamed Farah Samatar, a former ruling party member, in a race analysts say offers little genuine competition. Opposition groups frequently boycott elections, citing restrictions on political freedoms.

The government has denied allegations of widespread abuses and rejected criticism of the electoral process.

Guelleh, 78, has led the Horn of Africa country since 1999, when he succeeded Hassan Gouled Aptidon, Djibouti’s founding president.

Last October, parliament voted to remove the 75-year age limit for presidential candidates and also scrapped a referendum previously required to approve a new constitution.

The age limit was introduced by Guelleh himself in 2010, as part of reforms that also removed the limit on the number of presidential terms, whilst reducing the length of each term from six to five years.