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Comoran elections delayed two months without explanation

By AFP
Africa Comoros President Ikililou Dhoinine speaks at the 68th UN General Assembly on September 25, 2013, in New York.  By Andrew Burton PoolAFPFile
SEP 22, 2014 LISTEN
Comoros President Ikililou Dhoinine speaks at the 68th UN General Assembly on September 25, 2013, in New York. By Andrew Burton (Pool/AFP/File)

Moroni (Comoros) (AFP) - The Comoran president has decreed a two-month postponement of general elections without explanation, the interior ministry of the chronically unstable east African archipelago said Monday.

The polls, initially set for early November, will now take place on December 28, with a second round set for February 1, 2015, Abdallah Djalim, head of the ministry's cabinet, told AFP.

The current parliament was elected to a four-year term in 2010, but its mandate, which ran out in April, has been extended.

President Ikililou Dhoinine is serving a five-year term, which ends in May 2016.

The impoverished island nation of Comoros has seen more than 20 coups or attempted coups since gaining independence from France in 1975.

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